Hundredsofambulance trips cancelled every week
HUNDREDS of ambulance journeys for patients are cancelled every week as a result of rising demand, staff absence and resource shortages, new figures have revealed.
The Scottish Ambulance Service cancels an average of 44 Patient Transport Service (PTS) journeys a day, according to statistics obtained by the Scottish Conservatives.
The PTS uses ambulances to take patients to hospital on a nonemergency basis.
Around 16,000 journeys were cancelled in the year to May, the latest month for which figures are available, down from around 21,000 the previous year – but up on the 2014/15 total of around 10,000.
Of the 16,065 journeys cancelled in the last year, 4296 were scrapped on the day of the planned journey.
These figures do not include occasions where the journey has been cancelled by the patient.
Responding to the party’s freedom of information request, the ambulance service said there were three reasons for the cancelling of journeys – when “demand exceeds the number of available resources”, unexpected staff absences, and when specialist equipment required such as a stair lift is not available.
The service said cancellation is a “last resort” and 59 ambulance care assistants are currently being recruited and trained to fill vacancies to help cut the number of journeys axed, while shift patterns are being reviewed.
The statement continued: “We have very little control over both the volume and category of PTS transport requests we receive every day.
“Furthermore, whilst resources are configured to reflect the general flow of patients across Scotland on a daily basis, there are an increasing number of ever-changing variables which are impacting on our ability to respond to daily demands.”
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “In the last year, the service successfully undertook almost 780,000 patient transport journeys.
“We understand how important it is for patients to attend their appointments and do all we can to make sure we do not have to cancel journeys.”