Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Ambulances stack up outside ARI as NHS Grampian pleads with public to attend only in life-threatening situations

First Minister Humza Yousaf told The P&J this afternoon he is looking to see "significant improvement" at Aberdeen's flagship hospital very soon.

Ambulances stacked up outside ARI.
Ambulances backed up outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) earlier this week. Image: DC Thomson

NHS Grampian has issued an urgent plea to the public this afternoon to attend hospital only in life-threatening situations as the health board faces mounting pressures.

In the past hour, an image taken outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) shows at least 13 ambulances waiting outside the accident and emergency department (A&E), with a number of support vehicles in situ.

In a tweet issued earlier this afternoon, the health board said: “The emergency department at ARI continues to be extremely busy and long waits are to be expected.

“Members of the public are reminded only to attend the emergency department if the situation is life-threatening.”

‘Too many people going to hospital – and not enough beds’

At the end of last month, the P&J reported how up to half the north-east’s ambulance fleet was “stuck” outside A&E during one evening.

As many as 18 ambulances were stationed outside the city’s flagship hospital as ambulance crews waited to hand over patients.

A source told The Press and Journal: “The issue is that there are too many people going to the hospital, and it doesn’t have enough beds.

“I don’t want to scare members of the public, but the reality is, there’s a significant lack of exposure to emergency calls.”

Ambulances parked outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency ward.
Ambulances ‘stacked’ outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on February 26

‘Looking to see some significant improvement from ARI’

First Minister Humza Yousaf was quizzed on mounting pressures at ARI during a visit to Aberdeen this afternoon.

He said that turnaround times at the flagship hospital are “not acceptable”.

Mr Yousaf said: “The health secretary and I have had a conversation about this and I know he’s taken it up with Grampian.

“The concern here is we’re still seeing a significant number of people delayed in being discharged from hospital and that is disturbing the entire flow of the hospital.

“I know ARI – I’ve seen a note recently – are taking a number of actions to address ambulance turnaround times.

“It has to be said I’m looking to see some significant improvement from ARI and to see that improvement very soon.”

13 ambulances stacked up outside ARI today

A spokesperson for NHS Grampian said: “Ambulances having to wait at the front door is not what we aim for – for our patients and indeed our colleagues at SAS. We apologise to anyone who has been impacted by this.

“The reasons behind ambulance waits are challenging. At certain, often unpredictable points, we experience periods of exceptionally high demand at the Emergency Department.

“Our hospitals are currently facing sustained pressure due to the volume of acutely ill patients arriving, bed availability and staffing pressures. This can unfortunately lead to ambulances having to wait at the front door, as we are unable to admit more patients to the department.

“During periods of intense pressure, cases are triaged as normal with those facing life-threatening situations – such as heart attacks or strokes – continuing to be admitted rapidly for life-saving treatment as an absolute priority.

“The very nature of unscheduled care is it has peaks and troughs of activity. These vary hour-by-hour and day-by-day.”

Conversation