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 Health Correspondent Abeer Parkes"Service is falling short of targets"  real 28k  Ambulance service chief executive Adrian Lucas"Paramedics have increased life-saving capabilities"  real 28k |
Ambulance death claim denied
There is concern about target times being missed |
The chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service has denied that lives are being lost because emergency call-out target times are being missed.
A report from the National Audit Office warns that the service's policy of answering 999 calls on a first come, first served basis could be costing lives.
 That's actually quite ridiculous to assume that a slight delay in an ambulance results in a death  |
| Adrian Lucas, Scottish Ambulance Service |
The report, covering 1998-99, recommends a new approach to prioritising calls so that ambulances are diverted to more urgent cases.
But Adrian Lucas dismissed the suggestion that people were dying because of delays.
'Totally inappropriate
Responding to a newspaper report which says as many as 300 lives have been lost because of hold-ups, Adrian Lucas said: "That's actually quite ridiculous to assume that a slight delay in an ambulance results in a death.
Delays could be life-threatening, the report warns |
"As much as one in four patients now survives in the time that paramedics have been introduced and the additional skills have been brought to the ambulances."
The report says: "The service and the Scottish Executive should act urgently to consider whether and how far to introduce deployment systems which give greater priority to life-threatening emergencies."
Missed target times
It says the current system could lead to potentially fatal delays in vehicles arriving at emergencies.
Many calls are not answered within the target time of 10 seconds.
The service should improve the planning and deployment of operational ambulance resources. |
| NAO report |
In Glasgow, 70% of call-outs missed the seven minutes target. Only about one in three Glasgow ambulances reach the scene of a 999 incident within that time.
Lothian and Lanarkshire also failed to meet the times, but Tayside, Grampian and Highland achieved their goals.
Planning and deployment
The Scottish Ambulance Service has already agreed to investigate this matter further.
The report goes on to say: "The service should improve the planning and deployment of operational ambulance resources.
"The service should review existing practice regarding the disposition and deployment of emergency ambulances and review the existing eight separate control centres."
Positive note
About £86m was spent in 1998-99 on the Scottish Ambulance Service. Its accident and emergency service swallowed up £67m of that amount.
During the year, 487,000 emergency and urgent ambulance responses were made.
On a positive note, the report points out that, although the Scottish Ambulance Service has had to cope with a 28% increase in demand over the past five years, it is performing well compared to other parts of the UK.
The Scottish Parliament's audit committee is to investigate the report's findings early next year
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