Act now to end ambulance crisis

AN 86-year-old woman being forced to lie on a hard floor for eight hours waiting on an ambulance is nothing short of a scandal.

It is traumatic enough for an elderly person to break a hip without having to endure the added pain and indignity of being trapped between a door and a cupboard for that length of time.

Lilian Briggs’ story is just the latest in a very long line of reports about inordinately long waits for both ambulances to arrive and at A&E to get seen.

For weeks, the Daily Record has been telling of the growing ambulance crisis and trade union Unite has called for urgent action to bring it to an end.

For Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to simply tell people not to dial 999 unless it is an emergency is not enough.

Unite has called for the public to be properly educated on when it is appropriate to call for an ambulance.

While Yousaf ’s plea is heartfelt, people need far better parameters and that needs investment in a public awareness campaign.

An injection of £20million is welcome for staffing but it has come too little too late for people like Lilian.

The money is understood to have come to cover shortages found as a result of a capacity review several years ago and does not cover the extra diffculties being faced now.

More immediate help is needed and efforts to ensure a maximum 30 minute turnaround at hospitals would mean more ambulances on the road.

Yousaf is warning of a winter of discontent but people like Lilian are more than discontented already.