Dumbarton MSP, Jackie Baillie, has revealed that the Scottish Ambulance Service is conducting a review of ambulance capacity in Scotland’s cities and hopes that it will free up resources locally.

The MSP has received numerous complaints from constituents who have experienced long waits for ambulances from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond. One patient complained that he waited 80 minutes for an ambulance for his neighbour who was bleeding heavily. The patient then had to travel 90 minutes to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Another told the MSP how their 98-year-old mother waited from 12.30pm when the ambulance was called, to 10pm when it eventually arrived – despite suffering from a suspected broken hip.

Jackie also raised problems with access to patient transport and the number of cancellations causing constituents to miss hospital appointments. She was advised that the service had experienced staffing problems but that these have now been resolved and cancellations are now much less than before.

Jackie said:

“Patients in my constituency have experienced serious problems with the Scottish Ambulance Service over a number of months.

“I welcome the commitment from the Scottish Ambulance service to review their capacity in cities and am hopeful that when these issues are addressed my own community will receive a better service.

“I have asked the Scottish Ambulance Service to commit to having at least one ambulance always on standby in the area so that local people do not need to wait on ambulances being deployed from elsewhere.

“I also raised the issues with patient transport and was assured that the service is getting better now that staffing issues are resolved.”