FOI 25-135 Station Information for Alness, Tain, Dingwall, Inverness, Golspie, Nairn & Aviemore
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-135 Station Information for Alness, Tain, Dingwall, Inverness, Golspie, Nairn & Aviemore
- Request Date
- 17 Mar 2025
- Response Date
- 11 Apr 2025
- Information Requested
I'd like to know the following, please, in relation to the following Ambulance Stations: Alness, Tain, Dingwall, Inverness, Golspie, Nairn, Aviemore:
- Number of Clinical (Paramedic) Team Leaders at each station
- Number of members of staff at each station
- How many A&E vehicles and the utilisation time for the vehicles at each station (2024-25)
- Patient numbers for each station (as above - the most recent figures 2024-25)
- Cost to SAS for each Clinical Team Leader in addition to their 'standard' wage (Paramedic, Advanced Paramedic etc)
- The justification for the number of CTLs at each station - Who is accountable for the decision as to how many CTLs there are in the area, and where those CTLs are located?
- Response
Please see the attached data sheet detailing information on how many CTLs are at each station, the members of staff at each station, how many vehicles are at each station, the utilisation time of vehicles at each station and the justifications of CTLs at each station.
Public authorities are not required to create information in order to answer a request. There’s a distinction between creating new information, and compiling information. Where a request can be answered by compiling information from readily-available resources held by the public authority, this is not the same as creating new information. However, if collation of the information would require skill and complex judgement, the information is not held. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold salary information in a way that allows us to report on the cost for each Clinical Team Leader in addition to their ‘standard wage’, it is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
In relation to ‘patients per station’, The Scottish Ambulance Service is a national service, this means that vehicles based out of the stations requested can be despatched to incidents out with the area, similarly vehicles out with this area may attend to incidents within this area depending on the severity of the incident and the demand on the service. Therefore, it is immeasurable how many patients any one station may attend.
The utilisation of the vehicles at the stations varies depending on the time of day or the day of the week.
Utilisation is a measure of how busy our A&E crews are, comparing available crew hours with the hours used to respond to patients. This includes the time crews spend travelling to a patient, the time they spend on scene treating the patient and, if applicable, the time spent taking the patient to hospital including the time spent at hospital. It does not include any time spent by the crews returning to their own area or station or time spent checking and cleaning vehicles and equipment. A utilisation level of 55% is recognised within the UK as being the maximum utilisation level for A&E crews, it allows for crews to be available to immediately respond to patients therefore reducing the likelihood of delayed responses. This level also ensures staff welfare levels can be maintained in respect of staff receiving rest breaks within their agreed rest period window and minimising shift overruns.
Please see the attached data sheet with the utilisation information.
- Response Documents
