Fire fighters giving vital first aid

FIREFIGHTERS have attended hundreds of medical emergencies to provide first aid until an ambulance arrives, according to the Scottish Lib Dems.

Since the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) was set up in 2013, firefighters have been sent to 1,157 of these incidents at the request of the ambulance service.

The Lib Dems say the figures released to them under Freedom of Information underline the need for adequate emergency service resources.

The party’s health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Co-responding arrangements make sense because every second is critical in medical emergencies.

“For example, if someone goes into cardiac arrest then the nearest available expertise should be deployed, regardless of what uniform they are wearing.

“However, people will be concerned that these figures are also an indication of the pressure that the ambulance service is under.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “As Mr Cole-Hamilton has stated, time is of the essence in life-threatening incidents, which is why we dispatch responders skilled in CPR and basic life-saving skills alongside resources from the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“The statistics being quoted need to be seen within the wider context of over 1.9 million emergency incidents attended by the Scottish Ambulance Service over this time period.”