The First Minister accepted there are problems with long waits for emergency help after hearing alarming complaints from patients.
Nicola Sturgeon was put on the spot at Holyrood weeks after we revealed a north-east woman waited 20 hours to be taken to hospital, where she learned she had life-threatening sepsis.
It was one of a series of recent revelations underlining the intense pressure NHS Scotland has faced in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, a man said he waited 13 hours for an ambulance in Aberdeen – finally getting help after a public plea.
An Argyll woman, from Ardrishaig, had to call a neighbour to help take her husband to hospital when he had a heart attack in July.
There are challenges on our ambulance service because of the pressures on our national health service caused by Covid.
– Nicola Sturgeon
And we revealed how a north-east former NHS worker whose disabled father endured a 15-hour wait for an ambulance believes crews are not properly staffed to provide a quick response.
North East MSP Tess White raised the wider concerns with Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood – the first since the end of parliamentary term before summer.
‘Not good enough’
Ms White, referring to recent government plans, said: “In recent weeks, NHS Grampian has said that staff are under more pressure than at any other time throughout the pandemic.
“There have been reports of people across the north-east waiting for up to 20 hours to be taken to hospital by ambulance.
“Ambulances are being stacked outside hospital entrances, because there simply is not the capacity to treat more patients.
“A 28-page plan is just not good enough. What immediate action is the Scottish Government taking to address the crisis?”
Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Ambulance Service is looking at demand and capacity.
She said over four years more than £1bn has been invested.
An extra 67 front-line staff have been hired in the north, with 296 more across the country.
Addressing Ms White, the First Minister said: “She is right – there are challenges on our ambulance service because of the pressures on our national health service caused by Covid.
“We have not just produced a 28-page plan, important though that is. We have invested an additional £20 million – additional to the £1 billion over the past four years, which I spoke about – to support the on-going review of the Scottish Ambulance Service.”
She praised the work of paramedics and other NHS Scotland staff, adding median national response time was 8 minutes 55 seconds.
“I recognise that there will be people waiting longer than that and there will be some people who have waited completely unacceptable lengths of time – that is why we are investing in this way,” she continued.
“However, we are taking the action, making the investment and supporting the ambulance service in the excellent work what it does.”
What is the ambulance service doing?
The exchanges followed a recruitment announcement by Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.
He said 300 new ambulance staff will be recruited to help ease pressure on the NHS.
Scottish Ambulance Service chief executive Pauline Howie said: “These new resources will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care by boosting capacity and increasing our resilience in communities across Scotland.
“They’ll also complement our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly over the last 18 months in extremely demanding circumstances.”
Pressure on the health service was major theme of the first questions session for Ms Sturgeon at Holyrood.
No one underplays how difficult the challenges ahead are.
– Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised A&E performance figures which showed the four-hour waiting time target was at a record low of 75.1%.
“In 2003, Nicola Sturgeon was saying a list of over 84,000 people was a humiliation,” he reminded the First Minister.
“What we are talking about today is a list of over 600,000.”
Ms Sturgeon said: “No one underplays how difficult the challenges ahead are, for the NHS in particular, but for all of society.
“It is only a matter of months since the Scottish people had a choice about who they trusted and had confidence in to lead the country through all of these challenges.
“And they chose this government and that is a responsibility we take seriously each and every day.”