Turriff to receive its own ambulance to address soaring response times
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Turriff is to receive its own ambulance next month in a bid to address the town’s soaring response times.
Confirmation of the move to provide residents with 24-hour emergency ambulance cover was given to Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid during talks with health service representatives.
Mr Duguid has been campaigning for improvements since before Covid and held a public meeting which was attended by more than 150 people covering issues such as ambulance cover earlier this month.
It comes as figures show in the last year 2369 people have been forced to wait more than two hours for an ambulance across NHS Grampian, an 843 per cent rise when only eight people had to wait 120 minutes four years ago.
Turriff has notoriously been one of the worst areas in the north-east for response times over the years, with patients regularly left waiting more than three times the national target of eight minutes from a 999 call.
David Duguid MP said: “Having repeatedly campaigned for improvements to be made on the poor level of cover experienced in parts of the north-east, I welcome the news that Turriff is getting its own ambulance.
“In life-threatening emergency situations, every second can count and over the years Turriff has continually suffered the worst waiting times for ambulances.
“These alarmingly long waits are terrifying and residents deserve better which is why having 24-hour cover should go some way to addressing this issue for patients.
“Our heroic ambulance staff and paramedics do a fantastic job in challenging circumstances and I hope having an extra ambulance will help to alleviate the growing pressures that they are facing.
“I will do everything I can to ensure next month’s rollout isn’t delayed while continuing to address other health service issues across our communities such as GP and minor injury unit access.”
The Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed an ambulance will be in Turriff on a “standby basis” when not responding to incidents elsewhere and that work is ongoing with partner agencies to find suitable premises in the town for this to happen.
A spokesperson said: "Our latest statistics show our median response time for our most serious calls across Grampian is currently 6 minutes 51 seconds and that 30-day survival rates for our most seriously ill patients are at their highest ever level.
"We are accelerating recruitment of new staff, building on record recruitment of 540 frontline staff last financial year, and continue to invest in vehicles and equipment at pace to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to communities such as Turriff.”
