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Wait times

Posted By sunny74

"Wait times"

About: Scottish Ambulance Service / Emergency Ambulance

(as a relative),

Blue light, emergency/priority ambulance ordered by clinician for my husband, over six hours and still no ambulance. 

Someone in inordinate amounts of pain, with a potential broken back, who has lost feeling in his lower half, alongside associated impacts on bladder, has had to wait six hours plus for an ambulance. In my view, this is no longer a service that is fit for purpose, it's broken.

I feel for all the public facing members of staff in both the ambulance service and NHS Lanarkshire, this is not why they got into medicine/their roles. It must be soul destroying - it certainly is watching someone in agony begging for help, that you've no idea if or when it will appear.

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Responses

Response from Marie Kennedy, Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs, Scottish Ambulance Service 3 days ago
Marie Kennedy
Patient Experience Manager, Corporate Affairs,
Scottish Ambulance Service

Submitted on 22/08/2025 at 17:52
Published on Care Opinion at 17:52

picture of Marie Kennedy

Dear sunny74

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We are very sorry to hear about the distressing situation your husband faced and the impact this had on you and your family. Waiting in pain and uncertainty for such a long time is deeply concerning and we understand how upsetting this must have been.

We would like to look into what happened and ensure your feedback is shared with the relevant teams. If you are willing, please email us at sas.feedback@nhs.scot with your husband’s name, the date and time of the call and the address where the ambulance was requested. If you could also include your Care Opinion username, we’ll be able to match your story and share it with the crew involved.

Once again, we’re very sorry for your experience and thank you for bringing it to our attention.

Kind regards
Marie Kennedy

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by sunny74 (a relative)

Thank you for responding, I will send an email in the morning outlining the details, including the time when a crew did arrive - 4am - over 9hrs after being asked to attend.

Please note, the team who did respond were superb and couldn't have been better. I will also be sure to include this in the email as they should be praised. They worked quickly and effectively to manage the situation, with incredibly good humour and a calming presence - I can't thank those guys enough.

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