The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hundreds of ambulance journeys axed each week
Service for nonemergency patients is battling shortages
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 non-emergency basis.
Around 16,000 journeys were cancelled in the year to May, 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, 4,296 were scrapped on the day of the planned journey.
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, there are an increasing number of ever-changing variables which are impacting on our ability to respond to daily demands.”
The service said new systems are being implemented.
Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: “Ambulance workers themselves are doing their best to ensure vulnerable patients can get to hospital but demand is far outstripping supply.”
He said the Scottish Government has to work with the ambulance service to improve the cancellation rate.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “Before a journey is cancelled, we take consideration of the department the patient is attending, the condition of the patient, the nature of their appointment and whether they have had challenges accessing our service previously.”