Ambulance boss ‘used 999 call handler as own airport taxi’

A SCOTTISH Ambulance Service manager has been suspended amid claims he told a 999 call handler to leave their post and pick him up from the airport.

An investigation is understood to have been launched over the alleged trip to collect the manager and his family off a holiday flight from Glasgow Airport.

The manager was this week taken off duty after the incident was reported to Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) chiefs.

It is claimed an emergency dispatcher was taken off duty for two hours to collect the man early on July 17. Sources say the manager flew home after midnight before calling on the help of a colleague, who abandoned their 999 post to ferry him to his car, which was at his place of work.

Yesterday, the SAS said it did not comment on individual members of staff, but a source said colleagues are angry and believe the move put the public in danger.

They told the Scottish Sun: ‘A dispatcher was told via text to take the service pool vehicle and go to Glasgow Airport.

‘He wanted them to collect him and his family and then return them to collect his car at the control centre. This removed a dispatcher whose job it is to allocate 999 calls to ambulances.

‘This was on a night the centre was short-staffed and removed that dispatcher from their computer for over two hours. This put extreme pressure on dispatchers and put the public at risk.’

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: ‘This could have cost lives. We know from the dangerous rise in response times that Scotland’s ambulance service is at breaking point thanks to the SNP’s dreadful workforce planning. So the thought that a senior staff member felt it appropriate to summon a busy colleague to act as his family chauffeur, when they ought to have been answering emergency calls, is both staggering and unforgivable.

‘Morale in the SAS – and across Scotland’s NHS – is low enough already thanks to Humza Yousaf’s mismanagement.

‘The Health Secretary has a duty to ensure these allegations are investigated thoroughly and that appropriate action is taken if they are correct.’

It is understood bosses acted after receiving an anonymous complaint from a worker.

Sources told the newspaper the matter has also been raised with Mr Yousaf. The news has prompted calls for a full-scale investigation at a time when the service is short-staffed.

Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘The emergency services have struggled with staffing for months, so it’s a scary thought that call handlers could be dragged away to provide a taxi service.

‘These allegations need to be fully looked into.

‘Humza Yousaf should say what action he took when he was approached by someone willing to blow the whistle.’

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on individual members of staff, however any concerns raised are strictly managed in line with SAS policies.’

‘Centre was short-staffed’