First responders are taking more than double the time to get to medical emergencies in Tayside and Fife than four years ago, new figures reveal.
The ambulance service volunteers in east central Scotland arrived on the scene in 15 minutes on average in 2017-18, compared with seven minutes in 2013-14.
Oliver Mundell, for the Scottish Conservatives, said the freedom of information data “reveals a very worrying drop in performance levels” and called on the SNP administration to provide more support for the service.
Community first responders are medically-trained local volunteers who aim to get to emergencies before ambulances.
Health Secretary Shona Robison accused the Tories of passing off community response times as ambulance figures.
“The Scottish Government fully recognises and commends the vital frontline role that the Scottish Ambulance Service play, which is why we have provided the Service with an uplift in funding of £8.6m for 2018-19,” she added.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “The median response time for our crews arriving on scene is actually 6 minutes and 47 seconds in immediately life threatening cases, despite significant increases in demand.”
