CABBIES TO THE RESCUE IN AMBULANCE CRISIS
First the Army are called in, then firefighters are asked to transport patients, now it’s.. Yousaf to call in private taxis for non-emergency patients
TAXIS will be used to help ease the strain on Scotland’s struggling ambulance service, Humza Yousaf has announced.
The Health Secretary said private contractors would be employed in instances where no emergency vehicle was required as part of a wider plan to reduce patient waiting times.
The SNP minister also apologised to families who had been caught up in the crisis facing Scotland’s NHS but insisted work was under way to fix it.
The Record revealed yesterday how firefighters will drive ambulances as part of a new multi-million pound package to tackle the health emergency. The UK Government last night confirmed that 114 military personnel will be deployed to help the ambulance service in Scotland, following Nicola Sturgeon’s request for assistance last week. A further 111 MoD staff will help run testing sites, a service the military also supported last year. There will be additional help from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service in the form of volunteer drivers, as well as private transport companies where clinically appropriate.
Work is also under way to create temporary admission wards in hospitals, meaning patients can be admitted quicker. Yousaf said: “Immediate assistance is not just being sought from the wider public sector – we’ve also brought support from the British Red Cross, as well as private contractors such as taxi companies, to help with some of the ambulance service’s work, where no emergency ambulance is required.
“But let me be absolutely clear – if you are in critical or life-threatening need, you will be taken to hospital in an ambulance if one is requested.
“Alternative transport is for those patients with low acuity, and patient safety will remain our number one priority.”
Labour’s Jackie Baillie pointed to an earlier call from John Thomson, vice-president for the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Scotland, who estimated that an additional 1000 beds could be required to deal with the current crisis.
The party’s health spokeswoman said bed numbers had dropped under the SNP over the last decade.
She said: “Given the problem with ambulance delays are actually about patient flows in A&E wards, and the lack of beds in hospital, will the cabinet secretary tell me whether John Thomson was wrong.”
Yousaf replied: “One of the actions I will bring forward is we are urgently having discussions with local authorities and social care providers about how we free up bed capacity, particularly in the delayed discharge cohort.”
Jamie McNamee, Unite union convener for the Scottish Ambulance Service, said he had worries over the use of non-medically trained drivers. – such as firefighters.
He he said: “We have profound concerns about the training and medical expertise of these additional drivers.”
Patient safety will be our number one priority YOUSAF ON RECRUITNG ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT