Sharp rise in 999 callers making their own way to hospital

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today repeated calls for an inquiry into avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis as he revealed new figures showing the number of patients who call 999 who are directed to make their own way to hospital has risen fivefold.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to the Scottish Ambulance Service asking for the reasons that calls were cancelled has revealed that between 2019 and 2023:

• The number of patients making their own way to hospital has risen 478%, from 2,281 to 13,182.
• A 16% increase in the number of calls cancelled by callers.
• There has also been a significant increase in the number of people treated at the scene, with numbers increasing from 7,005 in 2019 to 43,274 in 2023.

Earlier this year a Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request revealed 31 local authorities, including Glasgow, Aberdeen, Fife and Edinburgh, had experienced an increase in average waiting times for purple calls, which represent the most serious category of ambulance call outs.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“If you call an ambulance at a moment of crisis, you want to know that someone will be there in time to help you as best they can.

“I know from speaking with paramedics that the service is having to adapt as best it can to the extreme pressures that it is under. More and more people are making their own way to hospital or being treated at the scene.

“I fear that by ignoring ambulance staff warning of pressure cooker conditions, the Scottish Government has caused intolerable pain for patients.

“I want to see an inquiry into the hundreds of avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis. So far that has been obstructed by nationalist MSPs who are scared of what it might reveal.

“The Health Secretary needs to recognise the pressures that the service is under and look again at what can be done to improve life for both patients and staff.”