Sturgeon asks Army to help ambulance service

First Minister challenged about death of pensioner as paramedics arrived 40 hours after 999 call

Nicola Sturgeon was yesterday finalising plans for the British Army to prop up Scotland’s ambulance service as delays led to the sick and dying waiting hours in agony. She initially told MSPS she was “considering” asking for “targeted military assistance” to alleviate pressure on the service after being challenged over a pensioner who died when it took 40 hours for an ambulance to arrive, but quickly changed her stance and said she would make the request as soon as possible.

NICOLA STURGEON was yesterday finalising plans for the British Army to prop up Scotland’s ambulance service as delays led to the sick and dying waiting hours in agony for help. She initially told MSPS she was “considering” asking for “targeted military assistance” to alleviate pressure on the service after being challenged over the case of a pensioner who died when it took 40 hours for an ambulance to arrive.

By the end of First Minister’s Questions she said she would return to her office “to finalise details of the request for military assistance so that that can be submitted as soon as possible”.

With Humza Yousaf, her beleaguered Health Secretary, watching on, she argued that the same problems were being experienced across “much of the world”.

The Daily Telegraph understands she has asked for more than 100 servicemen to run Scotland’s mobile testing sites, freeing up ambulance service workers who currently perform this task.

Whitehall insiders said a request under the Military Aid to Civil Authorities (MACA) protocol had been received but the details were still being ironed out. However, Ms Sturgeon could provide no timetable for assistance to arrive. Holyrood’s opposition parties questioned why it had taken so long for her to ask for the British Army’s assistance, a week after union leaders disclosed the average wait between calling an ambulance and being admitted to hospital was six hours.

Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, raised the case of Gerard Brown, a 65-year-old, whose dead body was still warm when paramedics eventually turned up, 40 hours after an ambulance had been called. She was also pressed over the case of Lilian Briggs, an 86-year-old great-grandmother, forced to lay on the floor for eight hours waiting for an ambulance after falling and suffering a double fracture to her hip.

A shortage of accident and emergency beds had led to ambulances carrying sick patients being stacked up outside hospitals for hours, waiting for a bed. During this time they are unable to respond to other emergency calls.

Ms Sturgeon apologised to those waiting too long and said extra funding was being provided to recruit more staff, but she did not say how long this would take. “Additional actions are currently under active consideration but I can confirm now that this includes consideration of seeking targeted military assistance to help deal with short-term pressure points,” she said.

But Mr Ross said: “These heartbreaking stories of people dying and suffering in agony while waiting for an ambulance must be a wake-up call to the SNP Government.”

The Ministry of Defence said it had received a request from the Scottish Government under the MACA protocol.