Ambulance Service to receive £11 million extra funding ahead of busy winter

The Scottish Ambulance Service is to receive £10.5 million in additional funding ahead of expected increases in demand this winter.
The Scottish Ambulance Service will receive £11 million in additional funding.The Scottish Ambulance Service will receive £11 million in additional funding.
The Scottish Ambulance Service will receive £11 million in additional funding.

The money will be used to recruit 148 new staff members before the end of the year, as well as adding 24 vehicles to the fleet.

Eight ambulances will be stationed in Glasgow and Lothian – two of the busiest regions where much of the funding will be concentrated.

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The funds will also be used to replace stand-by services with 24/7 cover in rural areas, with £500,000 to be funnelled into Aviemore, Golspie and Oban.

Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service Pauline Howie welcomed the extra funding ahead of a challenging winter.

"This £11 million funding is fantastic news and will allow us to boost capacity in two of the busiest regions in Scotland through investment in new staff, new ambulances and new specialist vehicles,” she said.

"It will also allow us to support staff in some of our more rural areas though increased staffing and a reduction in on-call shift working.

“This winter is expected to see increased demand on healthcare services across the country and our top priority continues to be our patients and staff.

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“These additional resources will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care to communities while supporting our fantastic staff who have been doing an amazing job each day in the most challenging of circumstances.

“We continue to recruit at pace across the country to strengthen our dedicated workforce - a workforce who have all been remarkable this year.”

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “Our ambulance staff continue to work extremely hard under difficult circumstances which are being experienced across our healthcare services. I am extremely grateful for their dedication and commitment.

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“This additional investment will allow the Scottish Ambulance Service to put additional capacity in place in two of the busiest areas in the country, as well as supporting staff in some of the more rural areas through increases in staffing and reduction of requirement for staff to work on-call shifts.

“We continue to support the service and ensure they have the right resources in place across Scotland to continue to deal with increasing demand.”