FOI 25-008 Red and Purple Response and Turnaround Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-008 Red and Purple Response and Turnaround Times
- Request Date
- 06 Dec 2024
- Response Date
- 24 Jan 2025
- Information Requested
I request information regarding both the average and longest waiting times for ambulances and the turnaround times for ambulances arriving at hospitals and the length of time they had to wait before handing over to colleagues in the Emergency Dept. As such, please provide the following information:
- The average and longest waiting times for an ambulance to arrive at a purple
or red incident, from 01/12/2024 to 06/01/2025 (or the most recent stats
available) with a breakdown by each week and location. - Emergency Hospital Turnaround Times, from 01/12/2024 to 06/01/2025 (or
the most recent stats available). - Breakdown of turnaround times in every Emergency Dept across Scotland,
incl. information on the longest waits, from 01/12/2024 to 06/01/2025 (or the most
recent stats available) with a breakdown by each week.
- The average and longest waiting times for an ambulance to arrive at a purple
- Response
Please see the attached sheets detailing the information requested above. Please note, the
date range is 02/12/2024 – 19/01/2025 due to the week commencing information held.
Please note caution on the interpretation of this data.
The response times show total time and do not factor in possible upgrading or downgrading
that may occur depending on the patient condition. Times are inclusive of all areas,
meaning, as a national service, times are inclusive of all types of locations. These will
include areas that may have a difficult access and or in a remote location. For example, a
call may start out as a non-emergency (timed admission) call, subsequently be upgraded to
a purple call much later, but only the total time from the first call received is shown. The
starting point is always set for the colour category first determined, not the final colour
category assigned.
Where delays occur, clinical advisors maintain contact with the patient, checking their
condition on an ongoing basis, and upgrading when appropriate.
The Service does record turnaround times, which is from when an ambulance arrives at
hospital to the point of departure. These turnaround times are affected by a wide range of
factors, including ambulance staff cleaning vehicles following patient transportation and
providing statements to the police. Our local management teams are working closely with
Health Boards to ensure that ambulances are released as quickly as possible.
For the given data, you will see that some of the figures are shown as, five or less than five,
please note that this figure has been suppressed because the statistical value is less than
five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid
directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore widely understood that
provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less are statistically suppressed upon
disclosure.- Response Documents
