Dumbarton’s MSP has backed Scotland’s ambulance chief who warned that patients delayed outside hospitals will suffer.

Jackie Baillie spoke out after data revealed that growing waits at Glasgow hospitals were contributing to pressures on the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Figures show that turnaround times for ambulance crews have grown steadily at both Paisley’s Royal Alexandra and Glasgow’s QEUH since October.

Wait times at A&E departments – which have rocketed since the Covid pandemic – have now also worsened once again.

Concerned politicians fear for hard-working NHS staff as waiting times increase before the full impact of winter is felt on the service.

It comes after figures from the NHS revealed that just 57 per cent of the 446 patients who passed through the Royal Alexandra Hospital’s A&E department in the week ending November 3rd, were dealt with in four hours.

The Scottish Government’s own targets call for 95 per cent of A&E patients to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

It has largely been missed since the Covid pandemic began and performance is once again worsening, despite the Scottish Government’s Covid recovery plan for NHS care.

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s Chief Executive, Michael Dickson, said earlier this week that: “Ambulances are not hospitals. It’s not a place you want to spend many hours in.”

He added that the “static problem” of delays in hospital handover had become “demoralising” for crews.

Delays in handover of patients at hospitals mean ambulance crews are tied up waiting, which limits crew resources in local areas.

Figures from the Scottish Ambulance Service show that in the week until November 4th, the median turnaround times for crews at Paisley’s A&E was 42 minutes and 28 seconds but the 90th percentile turnaround – the time 90 per cent of crews spend at hospital with a patient – was one hour and six minutes.

Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton’s MSP, said: “Scotland’s ambulance chief warned this week that overcrowding is so bad that patients are being forced to wait not only in corridors but ambulances themselves.

“This logjam means that not only are there thousands of Scots waiting more than 12 hours to get treated, but countless others are forced to wait longer for an ambulance that they desperately need.

“This SNP government must reduce A&E waiting times before winter pressures make the situation even worse.

“Scottish Labour will invest in NHS recruitment, tackle delayed discharge and improve access to GP surgeries to ensure that those patients forced to use emergency services get the speedy treatment they need.”