Aberdeen Royal Infirmary saw Scotland’s longest ambulance turnaround time over the past year, new figures show.
Medics waited around 18 hours between arriving at the city’s flagship hospital and clearing the hospital during the lengthy wait in January this year.
This is the longest wait at any hospital between November 2022 and last month, according to a year of details released under freedom of information legislation.
In September, an ambulance waited more than 10 hours outside the hospital, and another was recorded as waiting almost that long in October.
It comes after we revealed as many as 17 ambulances were seen queuing up outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary earlier this month.
The figures show strained services across the country, with the second longest wait at almost 17 hours in Kilmarnock and the third highest at around 16 hours in Airdrie.
‘We are in a dark period’
Deputy First Minister Shona Robison last week apologised to patients left waiting “too long” for emergency care.
She told MSPs that some ambulances are “taking longer than they should to turn around at the front door of our hospitals”.
The SNP minister highlighted that an additional £50 million had been provided to the Scottish Ambulance Service as part of planning to help the NHS prepare for winter.
Michael Dickson, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said last week he is “profoundly concerned” by images of queuing ambulances outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Tess White, Conservative MSP for the North East region, said: “The issue of ambulance stacking is very much in the public eye, and pictures of queuing ambulances are upsetting for the public, medical staff and the health board.
“It is prevalent across Scotland, not just in Aberdeen or any one place, but it’s definitely compounded by the rural nature of some areas. We are in a dark period.
“We need to hear from Humza Yousaf and the SNP Scottish Government about how they will get a grip of this growing crisis.”
The overall average turnaround time for ambulances outside the hospital was 89 minutes.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We continue to work closely with NHS Grampian to improve hospital turnaround times for our ambulance crews arriving at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and welcome the improvements we have seen over the recent days.
“There remains significant pressure across the NHS and we remain focused on working with boards with extended hospital turnaround times as these prevent our crews from getting back out on the road to treat other patients.”
‘Regrettable’
An NHS Grampian spokesman said the health board has been working to cut the time ambulances are spending waiting at the front door of the emergency department.
He added: “Yesterday we had 83 patients arrive at the emergency department by ambulance with a median turn around time of 44 minutes and 8 seconds.
“Ambulances having to wait at the front door for long periods of time is regrettable and we apologise to anyone who has been impacted by this.
“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, delayed discharges 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.
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