FOI 25-024 Turnaround Times 2024
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-024 Turnaround Times 2024
- Request Date
- 14 Jan 2025
- Response Date
- 05 Feb 2025
- Information Requested
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, I would be grateful if you could comply with the following request and provide:
- The total amount of time that ambulance crews spent waiting outside of hospitals in 2024
- The above broken down by health board
- The 10 longest waits that ambulance crews had outside of hospitals in 2024 and which hospitals these occurred at
- Response
The Turnaround time is calculated 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, supporting the ongoing care of the patient and on occasions 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
Please see the attached sheet that details the total ambulance turnaround times (in minutes) broken down by Health Board for 2024. The total times for each Health Board include every hospital within that Health Board area. While hospital turnaround times continue to be a major concern at some sites across the country, thanks to our close collaborative work with our colleagues at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, we have seen a marked improvement at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital compared to last year.
The second tab contains the 10 longest hospital turnaround times broken down by Health Boards. The Scottish Ambulance Service has a duty of care under Data Protection to avoid directly or indirectly revealing identifiable information; it is for this reason We have not provided the hospitals where the incidents occurred.
For context of each time, we have included the median turnaround time (The time in which 50% of SAS Crews spend at hospital as a result of conveying a patient) and the 90th percentile (The time in which 90% of SAS Crews spend at hospital as a result of conveying a patient)
More information about Turnaround or a list of which hospitals have been included can be found on our website - Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics
- Response Documents
