Ambulance crews struggle in snow

Ms Sturgeon said the ambulance service had faced challenging times

The Scottish Ambulance Service has been struggling to answer emergency calls within its own target times.

Paramedics aim to respond to the most serious emergencies within eight minutes in 75% of cases.

But ambulances only turned up on time in 65% of cases on Wednesday due to the snow and ice and the performance figure was as low as 53% seven days ago.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told BBC Scotland the ambulance service had faced a very challenging few days.

She said: "I think most people will understand, as motorists find a lot of the road conditions with heavy snow very difficult, so too do people driving ambulances.

All our staff deserve credit for their commitment in dealing with conditions and delivering services in the face of real adversity Pauline Howie Scottish Ambulance Service

"But the ambulance service is working hard to ensure that that impact is minimised, prioritising emergency cases and taking a whole range of actions to ensure that it can respond quickly and to the standard that people expect it to."

Pauline Howie, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: "It is not surprising that in such extraordinary weather conditions response time performance has dropped temporarily, however all our staff deserve credit for their commitment in dealing with conditions and delivering services in the face of real adversity."

Contingency plans implemented across the country include the provision of 4X4 vehicles and support from mountain rescue services, the Red Cross, Coastguard and the Ministry of Defence.