Finnie wants 999 answers

THE Liberal Democrats' health spokesman has called for more openness in the Scottish Ambulance Service amid reports that a technical problem severely disrupted 999 calls.

Ross Finnie said: "The public and parliament should have been told about this incident as soon as it happened.

"We now need to know, immediately, if ambulance response times were affected and if any patients were delayed getting to hospital. I also want to know if this is the first time such an incident has taken place.

"I want the Health Secretary's assurance that we will be told of any future disruption."

Emergency calls to its three dispatch centres were diverted to Northern Ireland and England when a glitch occurred in the early hours of July 21, hitting Inverness first and spreading to Edinburgh by mid-morning.