The Scottish Government must act to fix ambulance waiting times, as lives are at stake. Those in well-paid leadership positions – in government and in health boards – need to up their game.
Scotland's emergency service workers are true heroes, but there is a long-term problem with ambulance waiting times, and people are dying as a result. Julie Parker died after waiting almost four hours for help last month. Brian Hurton died alone on his bathroom floor after twice being told an ambulance was not being dispatched.
Families demand improvements
The families are joining forces to demand improvements. They say nobody in desperate need of medical help should be waiting hours for an ambulance to arrive. They declare that no Scot should die due to delays in getting an ambulance to them. Hopefully, MSPs and Health Secretary Angela Constance will take heed.
However, it would be unfair to single out the ambulance service for blame. Wider problems within the NHS mean crews are often forced to wait in queues outside A&E departments for hours. This leaves paramedics sitting outside hospitals rather than out on patrol saving lives. To sort this out, more resources need to be diverted to emergency provision within the NHS – and that means wider reform of the service.
Higher taxes, better services expected
Scots pay higher taxes than every other part of the UK, so they expect better public services as a result. That does not appear to be the case. Lives are at stake if leaders continue to fail us.
Wildfires continue to rage in the Cairngorms, with smoke and fumes blowing over Aberdeen. In France and Spain, hundreds of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate. Anyone who doubts the effects of climate change can no longer keep their heads in the sand. Drought and extreme heat are going to become a fact of life, even in rain-soaked Scotland.
