999 CHAOS: STURGEON IS FORCED TO CALL IN THE ARMY
NICOLA Sturgeon has called in the Army to fix Scotland’s ambulance crisis after she was forced to apologise for lifethreatening delays.
The First Minister yesterday wrote to British defence chiefs seeking the assistance of military personnel to help ease pressure on struggling ambulance services across Scotland.
She was forced to admit patients had been left facing unacceptable delays, with one man dying while waiting for an ambulance that took 40 hours to reach him. Speaking at Holyrood, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I apologise unreservedly.’
It is the latest crisis to engulf the health service, which is already struggling to cope with a huge influx of Covid and non-Covid patients.
More than 600,000 people are stuck on NHS waiting lists and hundreds of new doctors and nurses are needed to fill job vacancies.
But opponents have blasted Miss
Sturgeon’s failure to act sooner over the latest scandal.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: ‘Support from our Armed Forces to urgently tackle this crisis will be hugely appreciated. However, Nicola Sturgeon should never have allowed the situation to reach this desperate stage. It exposes the SNP’s inaction to tackle ever-growing ambulance waiting times, before they hit such a critical state.’
It is understood that Miss Sturgeon has requested the use of military personnel to help run Covid testing centres, freeing up Scottish Ambulance Service workers.
She has blamed the pandemic for the unprecedented pressure on the NHS.
Last night, the Scottish Government wrote to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking urgent assistance under the Military Aid to Civilian Authority process.
An MoD spokesman confirmed it had received the request, adding: ‘We are working hard to identify where we can most effectively assist other government departments and civil authorities.’
It follows the death of 65year-old Gerard Brown, who passed away during a wait of more than 40 hours for an ambulance in Glasgow.
In another incident, 86-yearold Lillian Briggs, of Edinburgh, had to wait eight hours for an ambulance after suffering a fractured hip.
Miss Sturgeon told MSPs that emergency services staff were under ‘acute pressure’ and claimed urgent action would be taken.
She said: ‘I recognise that some people are not getting the standard of service that they should be getting or the standard of service that the ambulance service want to deliver.
‘That is not acceptable and I apologise unreservedly to anyone who has suffered or who is suffering unacceptably long waits. A range of actions have already been taken to address these challenges – for example additional funding to support new recruitment.
‘A number of other actions are also under active consideration and I can confirm that this includes consideration of seeking targeted military assistance to help deal with short-term pressure points.’
She added: ‘Such military assistance is already being provided to ambulance services in England.’
It is understood that the Government could also seek the use of military ambulances throughout winter as the pressure on the NHS continues. According to the latest Scottish daily update, more than 4,900 new Covid cases were reported in a single day, with 1,054 people being treated for the virus in hospital.
Opposition leaders claimed the crisis facing the Scottish Ambulance Service had been obvious before the pandemic hit in March last year.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘This isn’t about the pandemic. There were problems before it.
‘Pandemic or no pandemic, there’s a simple truth: no one should be left to die on the floor while waiting 40 hours for an ambulance.’
Last week, it emerged that waiting times for 999 ambulances had soared to six hours and Miss Sturgeon admitted that the delays were ‘not good enough’.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said the current situation is ‘extremely challenging’ and the service is working ‘to address the challenges being faced through a range of actions, including the potential for targeted military assistance as in other UK ambulance services’.
‘Extremely challenging’