A grieving Moray mother still fears not enough has been done to prevent a repeat of the circumstances in which her son died.
Keiran McKandie was hit by a car while cycling near Elgin two years ago.
Since then, his parents Sandra and Gordon McKandie have campaigned for greater coordination with emergency services after it was revealed an ambulance took more than half an hour to reach the teenager.
Meanwhile, fire fighters in Elgin, who had equipment that may have saved Keiran’s life, were not called to respond.
A trial undertaken by the fire service that saw them being called to medical emergencies was halted in September last year due to an on-going pay claim.
This week, the family met the Scottish Government’s Health Minister, Shona Robison, to ensure improvements continue to be made.
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead joined the talks to help press for a roll-out of defibrillators in police cars across the country after a successful trial in the north-east.
Despite being confident that “positive” steps are forthcoming, Mrs McKandie is eager for a resolution to the fire service dispute.
She said: “We’re not assured that the situation that happened to Keiran couldn’t happen again.
“Things have moved forward with more ambulance resources, which will hopefully mean they will be deployed more appropriately.
“We certainly laboured the point very strongly though that there needs to be more coordination between responders, which obviously isn’t happening while the fire talks are going on.”
Last night, the Fire Brigades Union stressed its members supported their role being expanded to include emergency medical responses.
However, a spokesman said the commitment needed to be matched with an increase in salary to reflect the additional work.
Meanwhile, Iain Bushell, deputy chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is “hopeful” the trial could resume again soon.
He said: “There is no specific timeline but we are around the table having good, positive discussions and I am very hopeful that we can get back to doing this lifesaving work as soon as possible.”
Mr Lochhead added: “Ms Robison agreed to take action regarding proposals to roll out defibrillators across all police vehicles in Scotland and on issues relating to the co-responding of the emergency services to road traffic accidents to ensure the nearest service, be it fire, police or ambulance, is called out to assist.”
