McArthur highlights ‘unnecessary’ Orkney ambulance delays with Health Secretary

Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur has today spoken in the Scottish Parliament about delays in tasking ambulances in the islands.

In recent months, Mr McArthur has been approached by a number of constituents highlighting what seem to have been unnecessary delays in ambulance call-outs. Mr McArthur has corresponded and met with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Michael Dickson, about the need for an improved system of handling calls from incidents in the islands, and a further meeting is scheduled next month.

Meantime. Mr McArthur took the opportunity during General Questions to raise the issue with Health Secretary, Neil Gray, asking:

“Would the Health Secretary support steps to adopt a more tailored approach in island communities to reduce delays in ambulance callouts wherever possible?”

In response, the Cabinet Secretary highlighted his understanding that work is underway in Orkney “to try to take the approach that Liam McArthur is setting out”, and offered to speak further with Mr McArthur after his meeting with Mr Dickson.

Commenting, Mr McArthur said:

“While no two of the incidents raised with me over recent months have been the same, they have come together to form a general impression that the current approach to managing ambulance call-outs in the islands isn’t working as well as it should. It’s clear that it is not in anyone’s interests for these calls to be needlessly caught up in a national ‘escalation’ process that is already under real pressure.

“I look forward to my further meeting with Michael Dickson next month to discuss the work that is underway to improve processes. However, I welcome the Cabinet Secretary’s acknowledgement of the concerns and support for a model that better suits local community’s needs and will pick this up with him again in the near future.”