Ambulance service 999 calls 'cost an extra £15m'

The number of 999 calls attended by ambulances in Scotland rose by nearly 10,000 last year - costing an extra £15 million.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats reveal that between March 2009 and March 2010, Scottish ambulances attended 608,833 A&E incidents at a total cost of 157,599,000.

That compared with 599,052 incidents costing 142,211,000 over the same period in 2008-9.

The Liberal Democrats said ministers now needed to look at how the number of "unnecessary and expensive" emergency trips to hospital can be reduced.

Ross Finnie, the party's health spokesman, said: "The ambulance service plays a key role in accident and emergency care.

"These figures show that Scottish ambulances responded to more than 600,000 A&E call outs last year. The number is rising - almost an extra 10,000 incidents were logged, costing an extra 15m. We need to make sure that blue-light ambulances are being called for real emergencies only."