The roll-out of a dedicated ambulance for a north-east town has been delayed by two months due to staff recruitment issues.
Campaigners have been calling for a dedicated ambulance in the Turriff area for some time, and last year it was finally confirmed.
The area has historically faced poor response times, with patients left waiting twice as long as other communities.
Currently the nearest ambulances are in Banff and Huntly.
Ambulance chiefs announced late last year one would be deployed on a “part-time basis” in Turriff when not responding to incidents elsewhere, and had indicated it would arrive in March.
However, the Scottish Ambulance Service has now confirmed its arrival has been knocked back.
In an e-mail to Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid, ambulance bosses said the new service will come into force in May as recruitment has taken longer than expected.
The ambulance – and a second one for Banff – require 17 staff members between them, including relief workers.
Officials also revealed that a second ambulance at Banff is still in the process of being upgraded fully to an accident and emergency service and will operate increased hours.
Over 22 minutes to wait for ambulance in life-threating situation
Mr Duguid said today: “It’s obviously disappointing that the introduction of a dedicated ambulance for Turriff has been delayed until May.
“But this underlines the depth of the crisis facing the retention and recruitment of staff in the sector and the impact this is having on waiting times, which are spiralling out of control in places like Turriff and Banff.
Figures released by the ambulance service show that Turriff residents waited more than twice as long for an ambulance as those in other parts of the region last year.
In life-threatening situations, the average length of time taken to respond to a 999 call from the town was 22 minutes 16 seconds.
The figure for the town has risen by almost seven minutes since 2019, when it had an average of 15 minutes 45 seconds.
‘There needs to be sustained and systemic action from the Scottish Government’
Mr Duguid added: “There needs to be sustained and systemic action from the Scottish Government to ensure the ambulance service can overcome barriers when recruiting staff.
“For seriously ill patients suffering strokes or heart attacks, mere minutes could be the difference between life and death, which is why having an ambulance in Turriff, even if only on standby, is so vital to the community.
“I continue to engage with the Scottish Ambulance Service and I am grateful to them for the work which has gone in to get to this point. However, it’s imperative further delays don’t occur which may ultimately lead to more suffering for patients and, ultimately, avoidable deaths within the community.”
‘Working with partners to finalise arrangements for the standby location’
The Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We remain committed to having an ambulance standby point at Turriff.
“Recruitment is being finalised and we plan to have staff and rosters in place by May 2023. We are currently working with partners to finalise arrangements for the standby location.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government added: “We are determined to continue to support the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure resources are in place across the country to ensure they maintain a fast and effective response to our most seriously ill patients.
“Our continued increased investment has seen a record 540 additional staff join the service since 2021, with further recruitment underway.”
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