The chief executive of NHS Grampian has vowed to work with the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to address emergency response times in Moray.
The health board’s regional boss, Malcolm Wright, met Moray MSP Richard Lochhead at Elgin’s Dr Gray’s Hospital to answer the politician’s concerns that local paramedics were being “overstretched”.
Mr Lochhead demanded the meeting after it emerged that emergency crews took 27 minutes to reach 16-year-old cyclist Keiran McKandie when he was killed in a crash this March.
He suggested Dr Gray’s could improve response times by ensuring that hospital staff received patients from ambulance crews more quickly, freeing the paramedics up for other jobs.
And he questioned whether ambulances were being used “like taxis” to ferry patients between hospitals.
Following the meeting, an NHS spokeswoman confirmed that moves would be made to investigate improving response times.
She added: “We had a very useful discussion on a range of issues.
“In relation to ambulance concerns, we are working closely at a senior level with our partners in the SAS to resolve any issues.”
Mr Lochhead said he was heartened that healthcare bosses appeared to appreciate that ambulance provision was becoming an “urgent issue” in Moray.
But the MSP said he would continue to press the SAS on his fears that emergency resources were being wasted by needlessly transferring patients.
He said: “Ambulances and their crews from Moray are often tied up with patient transfers to Aberdeen or Inverness, which can take up most of the day and that means they are not available for calls here.
“Hospital transfers are an integral part of operations, but I’m told that a lot of the time other vehicles rather than ambulances could carry out this work.
“This needs to be investigated, otherwise they will be acting as taxis rather than dealing with emergencies in Moray.”
The SAS confirmed that, last year, ambulance teams transferred more than 650 patients from Dr Gray’s to Aberdeen and beyond.
A spokesman said: “Inter-hospital patient transfers are undertaken on the advice of the requesting clinician, and based upon their clinical assessment of the patient’s need for ambulance care.
“We work closely with hospitals to review ambulance turnaround times and handover arrangements to try and minimise the time it takes to release ambulance resources for other calls.”