A&E call-out costs 'up £15m'

The number of emergency call-outs attended by ambulances in Scotland rose by nearly 10,000 last year - costing an extra £15 million, the Liberal Democrats have claimed.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd Jan 2011, 15:18 BST

Updated 3rd Jan 2011, 00:17 BST

According to statistics from data collection body ISD Scotland, between March 2009 and March 2010, ambulances attended 608,833 A&E incidents at a total cost of 157.6 million.

This compared with 599,052 incidents costing 142.2m over the same period in 2008-09.

The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Ross Finnie, said ministers need to look at how the number of "unnecessary and expensive" emergency trips to hospital can be reduced.