Health Secretary Neil Gray admitted it’s “unacceptable” that a 96-year-old woman was forced to wait nine hours in an ambulance outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The SNP minister offered an apology to the woman and her family at Holyrood on Wednesday and said there was “no defending” the incident earlier this month.
The P&J had revealed that the pensioner was left on a stretcher with chronic back pain.
An ambulance was dispatched to take her to hospital for an X-ray after she was left “screaming in pain” at the north-east care home where she lives.
It is the latest in a series of reports of ambulances “stacking” outside the region’s flagship hospital in recent months.
But NHS Grampian stressed there is a direct line for care home staff to contact ARI to allow transport to be organised in a manner which reduces long waits outside.
‘No defending’ ambulance wait outside ARI
North East Tory MSP Liam Kerr told Mr Gray ambulance turnaround times are “already unacceptable and are becoming unbelievable”.
In response, Mr Gray said: “Clearly the example he cites is unacceptable. There is no defending that.
“It is unacceptable and I apologise to the patient in question and the family for the situation they have endured.”
The health secretary said he has asked NHS Grampian for an improvement plan to address pressures in A&E and throughout the hospital.
The Scottish Government is also working with local government body Cosla to reduce delayed discharge across Scotland, which Mr Gray admits is “too high”.
He added: “It’s also fair to say that ambulance stacking is not a unique phenomenon to ARI or to Scotland and it is a situation that’s faced elsewhere in the UK.
“That’s not to say it’s okay in Scotland, it’s just reflective of the fact there are significant pressures upon our health and social care services across the UK.”
NHS Grampian do not comment on individual cases but say that, generally speaking, care home staff should contact ARI in the first instance using a direct line that is set up for this purpose.
A spokesman said: “This allows us to triage patients and organise transport in a manner which reduces long waits for ambulances outside of ARI and allows for the patient to remain in the comfort of their own surroundings until they can be seen at hospital, where they can be accommodated safely.”
However, apologising for ambulance waits, he added hospitals are facing “sustained pressure due to the volume of acutely ill patients arriving, bed availability, the availability of community care and staffing pressures.”
Reacting afterwards, Mr Kerr accused the SNP of “deflecting” on the issue instead of tackling it head on.
He added it was “not a good look” on the day the SNP launched its general election manifesto with a focus on securing a second independence referendum.
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