High risk patients waiting over an hour for an ambulance 

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that the SNP cannot be trusted with our NHS as he published new research that revealed that over 1,000 patients, in the two most serious categories of ambulance callers, have had to wait over an hour for an ambulance. 

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request analysed ambulance waiting time since 2020 across all 32 local authorities. 

It found that: 

• Across Scotland, between 2020 and 2025, 61 of the most high-risk callers (Purple) waited over an hour for an ambulance, while 29 waited over 90 minutes. There is currently around a 53% chance of cardiac arrest rate among this category of caller.
• In 12 councils, there were more of the most high-risk callers waiting over an hour for an ambulance than there were five years ago.
• 1,512 of those in the second most high-risk category of callers (Red) waited over an hour for an ambulance since 2020, while 548 waited over 90 minutes.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said: 

“Tragically, under the SNP, people can no longer trust that an ambulance will be there on time when they need one.  

“On John Swinney’s watch, scores of high-risk callers, with a more than 50% chance of cardiac arrest, have had to wait more than an hour for help. 

“Hospitals are full of people who are medically ready to leave but can’t because there are too few care packages and care workers to get them home.

“As well as driving up waits at A&E, it's grinding ambulances to a halt outside emergency departments and holding up first responders, who are struggling to get to people who urgently need their help. 

“Scottish Liberal Democrats will fix care to fix the NHS. We want to invest £400 million into care over the next three years to free up bed space in hospitals, bring down nightmarish waits and ensure ambulances get to patients in good time. 

“Every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats is a vote to make that a reality- that’s why you should back us on your second, peach, regional ballot paper.”