Ambulance service rejects claims about under-manning
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The Scottish Ambulance Service has denied that people are being put at risk because of alleged under-manning at two Easter Ross stations.
A detailed letter sent to the Ross-shire Journal accuses the SAS of "falsely" claiming both Alness and Tain stations are manned 24/7.
The letter states: “ There are shockingly lengthy periods where either the Tain or Alness stations are closed leaving only one ambulance north of Dingwall to Wick.”
It claims delays in treatment and transport to hospital "are resulting in avoidable deaths and a future diminished quality of life for patients".
It says lack of cover in Alness and Tain is having a massive knock on effect on Inverness and Dingwall ambulances, and that on a daily basis, ambulances from Inverness and Dingwall and beyond are sent to 999 calls in Easter Ross.
Inverness has only two full-time ambulances and Dingwall one.
It says response times in Easter Ross are being "patched up" with community first responders who are first aiders who cannot transport patients to hospital.
The whistle-blower said that Golspie and Lairg stations work on an "on call" basis, adding "they are regularly closed due to crews being fatigued. Golspie is operational 24/7 three days a week."
The writer states that the letter represents the feelings of paramedics and technicians in Easter Ross, and they are calling for six more staff to make Alness and Tain 24/7 and “give the residents of Easter Ross a fighting chance in their hour of need".
The Scottish Ambulance Service hit back however. A spokesman said: “The claims are untrue. We have ambulances working a 24/7 shift at Dingwall, Golspie, Lairg, Wick and Thurso – a crew is also available at either Tain or Alness stations and often both at the same time, depending on shift patterns.
“Patients in this part of Scotland can also rely on the air ambulance helicopter, a team of emergency response doctors based in Tain, Dornoch and Dingwall, and our teams of community first responders to provide an emergency response within a matter of minutes.
“We closely and continuously monitor our staffing levels, through our demand and capacity review, to ensure we can provide safe patient care in all parts of Scotland and continue to invest in our workforce.”
Contacted for comment, Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “Staff have raised concerns with me which I in turn have raised with the ambulance service. I believe that we do require more ambulance resources throughout the Highlands and Islands.
“Crews have to travel long distances to transfer patients and with specialist services becoming more centralised that will only increase.
“It is right that crews who are fatigued sign off and ideally we should have more stations covered without the use of on call staff, who are in greater danger of becoming fatigued if they have already undertaken a long transfer.
“I know from SAS that they are using Inverness crews to do some of these transfers where that is clinically safe.
“Obviously in an emergency the nearest crew must respond. Sadly the whole of our public sector is suffering from the impact of funding cuts and we must now end austerity and fund the life line services that our people need.”
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