No ambulances were available to help the one-year-old girl who died on Wednesday night after being knocked down in Balmedie, The Press and Journal can reveal.
The control room was forced to take the extraordinary step of scrambling a specialist team of hero paramedics to the aid of Ivy Mae Ross.
It came as ambulances were “stacked” outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and waiting “in excess of five hours”.
Special Operations Response Team (Sort) crews arrived at the Plymouth Brethren Church on Eigie Road in the Aberdeenshire village within 11 minutes of the 999 call.
Ivy Mae Ross, from Whitecairns, died after being taken to hospital.
Her devastated parents, Holly and Glenn, have praised the “tireless work” of emergency service staff who came to her aid after the accident.
Sort paramedics arrived at tragic Balmedie scene in 11 minutes
But the need to deploy the Sort crew has set off alarm bells, with this the latest occasion of ambulances sitting stacked up at ARI.
Sort paramedics are normally reserved for calls to hazardous environments.
Their work can have them dealing with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials, terror and security incidents, and height or water rescues.
There are three Sort bases in Scotland, in Aberdeen, Johnstone in Renfrewshire and Newbridge in Edinburgh.
Toddler Ivy Mae was hit by a Land Rover in the church car park at around 7.45pm.
And the Sorts sent there, with a vehicle designed to carry patients, had the one-year-old at ARI 37 minutes later.
Ambulance queues left ‘no choice’ when 999 came in from Balmedie
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We received a call at 7.47pm on Wednesday to attend an incident on Elgie Road, Balmedie.
“At this time, all our emergency vehicles and crews were tied up attending emergencies in the community or were stacked outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and experiencing waits in excess of five hours.
“We felt we had no choice but to deploy three of our special operations response teams (Sort), which normally only respond to incidents in hazardous environments, to the scene and the first resource arrived at 7.58pm.
“One patient was transported from the scene at 8.11pm and arrived at Aberdeen Royal Children’s Hospital at 8.24pm.
“We’d like to thank our staff in our ambulance control centres and in Sort for their support during this incident.”
Insider: ‘Ludicrous ambulance stacking leaves us unable to do our job’
The P&J understands the timeline from 999 call to the Sort’s arrival at ARI is similar to what it would have been in a regular ambulance.
There is no suggestion from emergency service contacts that there was any negative impact as a result of the highly trained Sort paramedics attending instead.
But the reason the specialists were rushed there – ambulances being stuck at A&E – has left an ambulance insider, who works on the road, furious.
They told The Press and Journal: “Yet again, we were unable to fulfill our core function to keep patients in our communities safe and well.
“It again highlights failings in a wider system.
“We don’t see the fire service or police suffering from this ludicrous situation.”
NHS Grampian: Ambulance long waits at the door ‘regrettable’
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “Ambulances having to wait at the front door for long periods of time is regrettable and we sincerely apologise to anyone who has been impacted by this.
“We experience periods of exceptionally high demand at the emergency department, which can be due to the volume of acutely ill patients arriving, bed availability, and/or staffing pressures.
“People are triaged as normal with those facing life-threatening situations an absolute priority.”
NHS Grampian has warned its emergency departments are currently “extremely busy”.
The arrival of warmer weather is understood to be heaping yet more pressure on the stretched resources, as people take to the outdoors.
ARI ambulance queues: Balmedie incident highlights need for contingency plan
North East MSP Tess White said it was “deeply concerning” that there were no ambulances available to go to Balmedie, due to the stacking at ARI.
The Scottish Conservative deputy health spokesperson told The P&J: “My thoughts go out to the family of Ivy Mae Ross during this extremely difficult time.
She added: “[The situation] is causing intense pressure for our hardworking paramedics who are doing their best in a difficult situation.
“I will ask the NHS Grampian board and the health minister for an update on contingency planning for serious incidents like these when every ambulance has been engaged in an emergency.”
