An accident victim faced a delay in getting to hospital because a vehicle dispatched by the Scottish Ambulance Service was not big enough to accommodate a stretcher.
The extraordinary case came to light as a trade union warned lives are being put at risk as the service seeks to ”reduce the number of ambulances on the road.”
Union officials have demanded talks with ambulance service chiefs after insisting too many vehicles are running ”single-manned.”
The service has rejected any suggestion that lives are at risk but did not deny details of a recent episode on the A90 when no fewer than three vehicles were needed to treat and take an accident casualty to hospital.
The first vehicle was a rapid response car with a single paramedic on board. The second had two of a crew but was not big enough to take the stretcher. A conventional ambulance then had to be called to ferry the casualty to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Mick Conroy, Scottish organiser of the GMB union, is writing to the service about concerns conveyed to him by ambulance personnel in Tayside and Fife.
He said: ”Scottish Ambulance Service managers in Tayside and Fife are in our view putting lives at risk by reducing the number of ambulances on the road. They are not providing cover and are allowing vehicles to run single-manned to save money.
”Many shifts over the last few weeks and in the coming weeks have and will not be covered and the paramedic response vehicle is continually not being covered.
”The managers are also enlisting the Red Cross and First Responders in attending calls as an alternative to their own staff. It’s a cheaper option as these are volunteers.”
Mr Conroy said the action by management is not only a money-saving exercise but rendered many vehicles only as ”clock stoppers” as the single crews are unable to pick up the patient and have to wait on a further ambulance to arrive to convey the patient to hospital.
The A90 episode was an example of the problem, with three vehicles having to be despatched to a single case before the patient could be safely taken to hospital.
The Courier has also received an anonymous letter from ”a relative of a practising paramedic” about the apparent lack of cover.
The writer said: ”Throughout Fife and Tayside, management are refusing to cover shifts. They maintain they have no money, although only the first quarter of the year has passed, and staff recently retired have not been replaced.”
Continued…
”Surely the ambulance service know staff are about to retire and can have replacement staff ready to be trained? The question has to be asked: has the £5 million Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon recently allocated been used up?”
In some stations, the writer continued, reduced cover meant no frontline vehicle working that day.
A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: ”The public in Tayside and Fife can be reassured that ambulance response times there continue to be amongst the fastest in the country and the average response to a life-threatening call in those areas is around 6.5 minutes.
”Shift rosters are continuously reviewed to ensure that the appropriate level of cover is in place to maintain fast response times. Staff who retire continue to be replaced and the recruitment programme will see more staff than ever starting in operational roles over the next 18 months.”
”There are over 1,000 volunteer First Responders in Scotland, including members from the Red Cross, but they are never sent to an emergency incident instead of an ambulance.
”As an enhancement to ambulance resources, they provide a valuable service to their communities and an ambulance is always dispatched to emergency calls that they attend.
”In addition, the Red Cross also provide some non-emergency support during peak times but never instead of normal operational ambulance cover.”
He added: ”Single-crewed paramedic response unit cars operate across the UK as there is clear clinical benefit in ensuring the paramedic, who has the skills and equipment to save life, gets to the patient quickly to start treatment and stabilise them for onward transport to hospital.”
First Responder teams operate in a number of locations. They are volunteers, who are geared to reach emergencies just ahead of the paramedics, and their role is to administer immediate care until professional help takes over.