8 MINUTE EMERGENCY AMBULANCE TAKES 36 HOURS

Shock new figures reveal average target times for every 999 category are being missed

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

AN EMERGENCY ambulance callout with an eight-minute response target took a staggering 36 hours to reach the patient.

Latest figures show the vital service is failing to meet expected average times for every category of 999 calls.

Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “These statistics are nothing short of horrific.

LIVES ARE IN DANGER

Shock figures reveal extent of ambulance delays for ill patients

SHOCKING figures show how seriously ill patients who are meant to be seen in eight minutes have waited up to a day-and-a-half for an ambulance.

A Freedom of Information request to the Scottish Ambulance Service has detailed the devastating failures described as “horrific” by 999 trade union Unite.

Emergency calls to the SAS are categorized as purple, red, amber, yellow, and green depending on the risk to the life of a patient's condition.

Generally, purple calls are for the most serious, like a cardiac arrest or severe difficulty breathing. The target response time for these is eight minutes.

Red calls deal with the second most serious category and could be for things like suspected heart attacks, falls from a height, major trauma or stabbings and also has a target response time of eight minutes.

Amber primarily deals with stroke cases or chest pain and carry a response time target of 19 minutes, while yellow calls, also with a 19 minute response time target, are for any other kind of emergency.

Green should be responded to within an hour and are generally doctors' calls.