Crisis could not be ignored any longer

FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called in the Army to help tackle the ambulance crisis – a week after the Daily Record highlighted the need for such a move.

She also apologised “unreservedly” to patients who have had to suffer extraordinarily long waits to get the urgent assistance they need.

Yesterday, we told how 86-year-old Lilian Briggs waited eight hours for an ambulance on a hard floor after suffering a double fracture to her hip. And the family of Gerard Brown, 65, told how medics have told them his 40-hour wait for an ambulance cost him his life.

Sturgeon was forced to call in the military as ambulances backed up outside hospitals, preventing paramedics from providing emergency treatment to those who need it most.

The First Minister has said the pandemic is partly to blame for the crisis.

But unions – whose members are on the frontline – point out that Covid-19 has only exposed the underlying problems already there.

Trade union Unite told last week how they feared lives would be lost if the situation wasn’t tackled immediately.

They called for major incident status to be activated as waiting times rose to an average of six hours.

They said this would enable the Army to be brought in to help out.

It took several more days of the Daily Record highlighting cases of lengthy patient waits, ambulances lined up at hospitals and even the Red Cross being drafted into one hospital before the Government finally acted.

But it shouldn’t have taken the bravery of patients and families in telling their stories for the government to stop ignoring the crisis.