Fresh fears have been raised about ambulance cover after a man hit by a lorry in Elgin was tended to by a Buckie crew – who were there by “chance”.
A 54-year-old man was hit by a delivery truck on West Road, Elgin on Saturday and remains in a critical condition in hospital.
But yesterday it emerged that despite the incident happening just 100 yards from the entrance to Dr Gray’s Hospital – and seconds away from the town’s ambulance depot – it was a crew from Keith who were dispatched.
However, quick-thinking locals raced into the hospital and accosted a Buckie crew that had just arrived with a patient to get him help faster.
Yesterday, the Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed the emergency crew reached the man in six minutes.
But a paramedic – who has previously revealed concerns overworked and under-resourced crews in Moray – said it was only luck that had prevented the injured man dying on the road.
They said: “If the Buckie ambulance hadn’t have been there by chance then there would have been no other vehicle.
“From what I have heard about his injuries the chances are he would not have made it into the hospital alive.
“If the accident had happened 10 minutes earlier, the ambulance would still have been travelling from Buckie and they wouldn’t have been able to assist immediately.
“When people are severely injured in a trauma situation there can be airway problems that need immediate medical assistance.
“We need to get them into the hospital as soon as possible – every second counts in that situation.”
Emergency services were called to the West Road section of the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness route at about 12.30pm on Saturday.
It is understood the man was hit by the lorry just minutes after leaving the hospital himself.
At that time one Elgin ambulance was taking a patient to Aberdeen for an emergency transfer while the other was on a call in Lhanbryde.
The Forres ambulance was not available due to a non-emergency transfer to Aberdeen.
The incident has prompted fresh calls for a new vehicle in Moray to be dedicated to non-emergency patient transfers to free up ambulance resources.
Tommy Campbell, regional officer for Unite, said: “Sadly this incident is yet another example of the poor management of the Scottish Ambulance Service.
“It has now got to the stage where I foresee that the workforce is going to lose confidence in their management.”
An ambulance spokesman said measures have already been put in place to help with patient transfers.
He said: “We have an urgent tier ambulance based at Elgin Ambulance Station which is crewed by an ambulance technician and an ambulance care assistant. This ambulance resource is used routinely to assist with patient transfers.
“In addition to the urgent tier ambulance in Elgin, we introduced a Hospital Ambulance Liaison Officer (Halo) at Dr Gray’s Hospital, in partnership with NHS Grampian, to help coordinate inter-hospital transfers, monitor hospital turnaround times and maximise emergency ambulance cover in Moray.
“We will continue to engage with communities, partners and staff members across the region to explore new ways of working that will positively impact on patient outcomes.”
Last month, Nairn paramedics responded to a call about a motorbike accident on the A96 at Forres. On that occasion one Elgin ambulance was responding to a 999 call more than 80 miles away in Portlethen, while the other was transferring a patient to ARI. Forres crews were responding to a call in Lossiemouth.
The ambulance service last night confirmed it had taken Nairn paramedics 15 minutes to get to the accident before a Forres crew arrived two minutes later.