2024 worst on record for ambulance equipment faults
Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has published new research by his party showing that faults with ambulance equipment reached a record high in 2024.
Scottish Liberal Democrats asked the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide the number of equipment faults by year since 2007, when the SNP first came to power.
The data shows that:
- In 2024, there were 1,907 faults recorded with ambulance equipment. This is the highest number of faults on record.
- NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde recorded nearly half of these faults with 934.
- In 2024, NHS Lanarkshire recorded 328 faults, while NHS Ayrshire and Arran recorded 149 and NHS Dumfries & Galloway recorded 116.
- Since the SNP came to power in 2007, there have been 13,568 recorded faults with ambulance equipment.
- Ambulance equipment faults increased from 111 in 2007 to 1907 in 2024- an increase of 1,618%
- In NHS Highland, ambulance equipment faults have increased by 2,966% since 2007.
Scottish Liberal Democrats recently uncovered that ambulances spent the equivalent of 41 years waiting to unload and depart from hospitals in 2024.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said:
“Ambulances and their crews save lives, with vital medical kit like defibrillators, stretchers and oxygen cylinders all on board. That’s why it’s worrying to see so many problems being reported with equipment.
“While it may be that increases in faults are partly due to staff being encouraged to report more, the bottom line is that paramedics must be able to rely on their equipment. For almost two decades, they have been let down by a slew of SNP ministers who have no idea how to help them.
"My party wants to make sure that staff have the equipment that they need to put their lifesaving skills to use.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats would also support our first responders by addressing underlying problems in the health service, from social care to local health care. That’s how we can bring down things like ambulance waits and put staff back on an even keel."