Ambulance service recruits extra staff to ease winter pressures

Almost 100 new ambulance staff will help the NHS cope with increased winter pressures, the Scottish health secretary has announced.

The new recruits have been placed across departments in time to support the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) during the busiest months of the year.

Last winter the SAS was placed on the highest level of emergency due to the “significant pressure” placed on services.

Health Secretary Neil Gray also confirmed that more than 250 newly qualified paramedics were also expected to be recruited this year.

SAS chief executive Michael Dickson warned that there was already an increase in demands on the service compared with last year.

Mr Dickson said: “It’s therefore essential that we continue to bolster our workforce to ensure we can give the best possible service to our patients and also provide support to our existing staff during this demanding time.

“To help our staff over winter, we’d like to remind the public that if you need urgent care, but it’s not life-threatening, you can call NHS 24 on 111, day or night, or visit your GP during opening hours.”

Growing pressure on services has led to queues of ambulances waiting outside accident and emergency departments during peak periods.

And figures from Public Health Scotland show waiting times in A&E have been increasing since 2016.

More than 800 deaths in Scotland last year were believed to have been linked to long A&E waits, according to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM).

On Christmas Eve the SAS implemented a level four resource escalation action plan, meaning all staff leave could be cancelled.

Earlier that month, senior doctors at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow asked for a “major incident” to be called when they faced “grossly” unsafe conditions with no room to take in new patients.

The request was declined.

Last November NHS Grampian declared a “critical incident” because Aberdeen Royal Infirmary was full. Some patients were diverted to Dundee or Elgin.

Attempts to reduce the number of ambulances queuing outside hospitals were implemented, leading to some concerns about increasing pressures on hospitals.

Gray, who visited the service’s East Ambulance Control Centre in South Queensferry to make the announcement, said the extra staff would help reduce pressure on services.

“These new staff members will provide a crucial boost to the Scottish Ambulance Service as they deal with the increased demand and pressure that winter brings,” he said.

“The additional call handlers and recruits to the Integrated Clinical Hub will all help to reduce conveyances and ensure patients are directed to the most appropriate care.

“The new staff working in the hub will help triage less seriously ill patients who don’t need to go to A&E, freeing up ambulances and reducing pressure on emergency departments.”

Work was already under way to recruit 269 newly qualified paramedics this year, he added.

An additional 72 ambulance care assistants are expected to join the SAS by April 2026.

The extra staff will take on support roles:

• 25 call handlers based in the service’s ambulance control centres;
• 22 staff – including GPs, clinical advisers and advanced practitioners – in SAS’s Integrated Clinical Hub;
• 12 scheduled care co-ordinators managing the service’s patient transport vehicles;
• 36 ambulance care assistants who will transport patients to planned hospital or clinic appointments.