The most critically ill patients in a North East town are waiting more than three times as long for ambulances than those in other parts of the region, new figures have revealed.
“Code purple” patients in Turriff are waiting an average of 30 minutes for an ambulance to reach them, despite the fact the national service has a target time of just eight minutes.
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These are people in life-threatening conditions and are identified as having a 10% or more chance of having a cardiac arrest.
The waiting time for the town has doubled since 2019 when patients in a critical condition waited 15 minutes.
In nearby Banff, only 12 miles away, the ambulance service reached purple category patients in 14 minutes this year – less than half the time of Turriff.
The average response time for purple incidents in Stonehaven was 8 minutes, Ellon 9 minutes, while Peterhead and Fraserburgh were 10 minutes.
Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan, Harriet Cross, who represents Turriff, said: “These figures are a shocking reflection of the scale of the crisis facing the Scottish Ambulance Service and highlight an incredibly worrying trend for rural patients living in areas such as Turriff.
“This alarming issue is being made worse as ambulances are backed up for hours outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary because of systemic problems in Scotland’s NHS.
“The ongoing closure of Turriff’s MIU and the reduced hours of others has also exacerbated this serious problem.
“Frontline ambulance staff are at breaking point and say morale is at an all-time low because they can’t give patients the care they deserve in a quick enough time.
“For patients suffering strokes or heart attacks, minutes could be the difference between life and death.
“The SNP need to get a grip on spiralling ambulance waiting times before more lives are lost.
“Staff and patients in areas such as Turriff need more than warm words from the Scottish Government. They need action.”
