The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has continued to increase its staffing and resources at pace this year as part of its Demand and Capacity Programme.
An additional 540 frontline A&E staff have been recruited this financial year – the highest number of staff ever to have joined the Service in a single year.
The new staff include 414 Technicians, 25 Paramedics, 58 Newly Qualified Paramedics, 23 Advanced Practitioners and 20 Ambulance Care Assistants. 192 staff have been recruited into the East, 111 for the North and 237 for the West.
A dedicated recruitment team was implemented to enable SAS to deliver the ambitious recruitment plan this year and to enable the foundations to be built in order to recruit a similar number of staff next year.
This increase in staffing and resources, coupled with alignment of shift patterns to patient demand profiles, aims to improve patient safety and staff welfare.
The programme has been supported by £20m investment from the Scottish Government so far.
This year, additional ambulances have gone live in Edinburgh and Lothian, Greater Glasgow, Tayside, Grampian and Clyde.
SAS has also established Seven new satellite stations, of which six are co-located with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive Pauline Howie said: “The last 12 months have been the busiest ever in terms of recruitment for the Service and this is great news for the people of Scotland.
“With the increased demand for our services, it’s vital we introduce extra resources and staffing. This will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care by boosting capacity and increasing our resilience in communities across Scotland.
“These new staff will compliment our existing staff who have done an incredible job before and throughout the pandemic.”
Cabinet Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The Scottish Ambulance Service is the heartbeat of our NHS and staff have worked incredibly hard over the last two years to meet the unprecedented pressure.
“This record recruitment is a demonstration of the action we are taking to help our Health Service at its time of critical need. They will be vital in enhancing the service already provided by dedicated staff.
“The Scottish Government is fully committed to ensuring SAS has the resources and skilled staff in place to continue to deliver a high quality emergency health service.”
The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) is boosting its mental health resources, with the recruitment of 21 new mental health staff, and the continuation of the successful Mental Health Triage cars in Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.
The Service has been provided with £1.6 million by the Scottish Government over the last three years as part of their Mental Health Strategy. The funding has supported mental health care initiatives, including establishing and staffing mental health triage cars, and boosting the care and support offered to individuals and communities.
This investment supports the recruitment of 21 new mental health staff, including thirteen mental health paramedics and a manager, four mental health dispatchers and three clinical effectiveness leads. These leads offer support across a range of work streams, with a focus on education, mental health pathways and connecting with key partners.
The funding is also assisting with the continuation of the Service’s Mental Health Triage cars, which provide specialist care to people who are experiencing mental health challenges and have contacted the Scottish Ambulance Service for help.
These Mental Health Triage cars offer an adaptive and approachable way of responding to people experiencing mental health distress, with a joint response from a mental health practitioner and a paramedic, to meet the patient’s immediate needs. There are three mental health cars available for the east, west and the north, and are based in Dundee, Glasgow and Inverness.
The Service has a further range of support services in place for people calling 999 to report mental health distress. SAS has partnered with NHS 24 and Police Scotland as part of the Enhanced Mental Health Pathway to continue the development of a Mental Health Hub which is hosted within NHS 24. Accessible for patients 24 hours a day, the Hub is staffed by psychological wellbeing practitioners, mental health nurse practitioners and mental health senior charge nurses.
In support of the Distress Brief Intervention (DBI) national roll-out, SAS continues to connect people in distress through this initiative, offering a response to people who have called 999.
The Scottish Ambulance Service’s Regional Director for the East region, Kenny Freeburn, said: “This funding continues to support the expansion of our initiatives to help in how we care for people experiencing mental health distress.
“It’s estimated that at least one in four people a year in the UK will experience mental health challenges, and the number of people contacting the emergency services about mental health concerns is also increasing.
“Our clinicians are often the first responders to have contact with a person experiencing mental health distress. Our ambition across all our initiatives is to connect people to the most appropriate care to meet their needs in as timely a manner as possible.”
Mental Wellbeing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “Mental wellbeing is more important than ever right now and I am pleased to see this initiative being established as part of the Scottish Government’s mental health strategy.
“With these three triage cars and over 20 dedicated roles within this service, it means people in need of mental health support will get it quicker and that can only be a good thing.”
Pictured are (from l to r), Minister Kevin Stewart, Iona Crawford, Susan Simpson paramedic team leader, Kenny Freeburn regional director.
Five Scottish Ambulance Service staff members have been awarded for acts of bravery.
The Brave@Heart Awards celebrate acts of bravery in exceptional circumstances by blue-light services, voluntary rescue organisations and members of the public.
Last year’s winners for the Service were Scott Diamond, Willie Anderson, Caron Robertson, Amanda McClorey, and Neil Spiers. The staff were nominated by their colleagues and demonstrated bravery during their shift or outside their work hours.
Caron (top), originally from Prestwick, and Amanda (above), both of Stranraer Station, were rewarded for helping a patient who injured herself after falling on a rock at a beach. With no mobile signal, the patient’s son went to a nearby farmhouse to call for an ambulance. Caron, Technician, and Amanda, Paramedic, arrived on the scene.
Their award submission said: “They took control of the situation calmly with retrieval of the patient required over a steep cliff face. Both clambered down the cliff and helped get the patient up. The patient was transported by the RNLI to Port Patrick and then by Caron and Amanda to hospital.”
Willie (above), Technician, and Scott, Clinical Training Officer, were rewarded after they attended an explosion after initially getting called out to another incident while working at Glasgow West Station station.
Whilst on scene at the first incident, they were approached by a member of the public stating there had been an explosion in a nearby takeaway shop. They ran in and got the staff out of the takeaway shop, then there was a secondary explosion that started a fire. The pair then forced their way in and got more than 20 people out as the building started to fill with smoke.
The crew contacted ACC and requested the attendance of Police and Fire Service. Their award submission said: “It is clear that Scott and William acted above and beyond the normal call of duty, acted selflessly, to reduce the risks to the public and residents within the building.”
Neil, of Pencaitland, East Lothian, an MPDS Auditor, arrived early ahead of his shift to take some photographs of yachts and soon became aware of a woman shouting for help. She had fallen in to the freezing water and managed to crawl ashore.
Neil, who was a call handler at the time, acted quickly, calling for assistance and gave her his jacket to keep her warm until help arrived.
His award submission said: “Once the ambulance crew arrived, he returned to his shift for the day. During his shift, he received a call from a member of public who had found a male in the water. Neil gave clear CPR instructions to the bystanders until the ambulance crew arrived on this site as well. The patient was transported to hospital.”
Scottish Ambulance Service Chief Executive Pauline Howie said: “The actions of these staff are truly commendable and they each showed extraordinary bravery. All our staff do amazing, life-saving work each day and this is a small sample.
“The staff are all wonderful ambassadors for the Scottish Ambulance Service and fully deserving of their awards.”
A Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) staff member who has been instrumental in dealing with some of Scotland’s biggest incidents has today been awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Medal (QAM).
The prestigious honour – which acknowledges ambulance personnel who have shown exceptional devotion to duty, merit and conduct – has been awarded to Patrick (Pat) O’Meara, General Manager of Events.
Pat, 57, joined SAS in 1998, after 17 years at the London Ambulance Service.
Throughout the past four decades, he has been involved in some of the UK’s most significant incidents, including the Clutha Bar crash where he was incident commander, the George Square bin lorry tragedy, and the Stockline Plastics Factory explosion.
Most recently, he has led the Service’s planning and response to COP26 and in the early stages of the pandemic, led on the development and implementation of the Service’s Mobile Testing Units.
Pat, who lives in East Kilbride, said: “I am very humbled and grateful and it’s a great honour to receive the award. In saying that, you never work on your own and any success is always down to being a member of a team.”
Pat started with the Scottish Ambulance Service as an Operations Room Officer, where he was responsible for control room emergency operations across Glasgow. Over the years at SAS, he has worked as a General Manager for Ambulance Control Centres, Community Resilience, and South East Scotland, which included the responsibility for the visit of Pope Benedict. Pat is also the Chief Medical Support Officer of the Army Cadet Force and is a Trustee of the Poppyscotland charity.
The dad-of-one joined the London Ambulance Service in 1981. Growing up wanting to be a policeman, he said: “I learnt first aid as an Army Cadet and had to use those skills with a serious leg wound on a fellow pupil who was pushed from a second floor window and later on another pupil having a fit. I then felt that the ambulance service was a career I should look at.
“The ambulance service was very different to today. The skills were not as advanced as they are now, we did not have defibrillators and there was no such role as a paramedic, only advanced trained ambulance men.”
Speaking on some of his memorable jobs throughout his career – in addition to Clutha and the Glasgow Bin Lorry incident – he said: “A young man aged 15 had been stabbed with a machete and despite my efforts and those of others, he sadly died. I remember him pleading with me not to let him die.
“I have also attended a bombing, an aircraft crash at Heathrow Airport, I’ve been held hostage and attended an incident where I was chased with a knife!”
SAS Chief Operating Officer Paul Bassett said: “Pat has been an amazing ambassador for the Scottish Ambulance Service over the past 23 years and this award is testament to Pat’s dedication and professionalism.
“He has been heavily involved in several major incidents, leading as incident commander, and most recently, he successfully led the Service provision to COP26. We are truly grateful for everything he has done for the Service.”
New alcohol policy measures should be considered to reduce drink-related ambulance callouts, according to researchers studying data from Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The University of Stirling-led team made the recommendation after their study found that ambulance callouts related to drinking in licensed premises fell significantly during the first lockdown – but were replaced relatively quickly by alcohol-related callouts to homes.
Professor Niamh Fitzgerald, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at Stirling, led the study and believes its findings present policymakers with an opportunity to reflect on how to sustain the positive outcomes of lockdown for the NHS and emergency services – including a reduction in what paramedics described as “mass public intoxication” over weekends – but also tackling other issues, such as the increase in problems caused by drinking at home.
Niamh Fitzgerald
Professor Fitzgerald said: “During the pandemic, both in the UK and abroad, licensed premises – including bars, restaurants and nightclubs – faced significant restrictions, including closures and curfews, which helped to reduce spread of the virus. However, we know that these restrictions also led to many people drinking more alcohol at home.
“By looking at data from the frontline of the NHS – the Scottish Ambulance Service – and adjusting for the fact that ambulance callouts fell during this period for other reasons, our study shows that there were disproportionately large short-term reductions in alcohol-related callouts in April and May 2020, when licensed premises were closed, compared to the previous year.
“This was a situation that paramedics described as a ‘welcome break’ from the hostile, alcohol-fuelled scenes experienced in towns and cities on weekend nights pre-pandemic.
“However, we also identified public health risks caused by increased home drinking during this period – with those night-time callouts quickly replaced by alcohol-related ambulance callouts on all days of the week, likely to be linked to home drinking.
“For example, in June 2020, when premises were still closed and weekend night-time callouts for alcohol incidents were still lower, the proportion of alcohol-related callouts had almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. Overall, there were 18,832 alcohol-related callouts at the height of the pandemic, in April to June 2020 – 16 percent of all callouts.
“Our findings suggest that policymakers here in Scotland, but also around the UK and abroad, need to consider how to build upon the lessons learned during the pandemic. As the night-time economy recovers, how can we avoid a return to pre-pandemic levels of alcohol-related callouts arising from the night-time economy, but also reduce callouts and harm from home drinking?”
Reduction in callouts
The research team – involving academics from ISMH and the University of Glasgow – analysed interviews with licensing stakeholders, to understand how COVID-19 has affected licensing and alcohol-related harms; explored the experiences of ambulance clinicians in further interviews; and conducted descriptive and time series analyses of alcohol-related ambulance callouts in Scotland, before and during the first lockdown.
Overall ambulance callouts for all causes between March and June 2020 – when lockdown was in place – decreased in comparison to the previous year. However, alcohol-related callouts fell much more sharply – with a 23% reduction in April 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. The drop was even more stark at weekends – down 31.8% – and at weekend night-times, down 48.9%.
After April, despite licensed premises remaining closed, the proportion of alcohol-related callouts gradually started to return to pre-lockdown levels. However, the resurgence in alcohol-related callouts was generated by calls spread throughout the week rather than concentrated at weekends, which still experienced substantially lower callouts in June 2020 than the previous year.
“Massive drop” in alcohol related incidents
Ambulance clinicians reported that the number of late-night callouts relating to alcohol “plummeted” when premises closed completely or operated under a curfew. However, there were perceived increases in domestic callouts and concerns raised about home drinking.
One paramedic said that during this time there had been “nowhere near the same amount of public intoxication or mass intoxication… there’s been much less in the way of assaults that involve alcohol, unconscious people outside that involve alcohol, falls that involve alcohol. All these things we’ve noticed a massive drop in.”
Another said: “It’s so nice to go to work on a Friday night knowing that you don’t have to go into pubs and clubs… it’s made a huge difference”
Several reported that the reduction in alcohol-related calls meant that they were spending more time on other calls.
Dr Jim Ward, Medical Director at the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), said: “We will always respond to people in need regardless of cause, location, or time.
“However, heavy drinking both at home and when on nights out, as well as through chronic alcohol problems, not only increases the risk of accidents but can also lead to a rise in assaults, including those against ambulance staff.
“By drinking in a way that avoids harm, the public can support our hard working staff and avoid putting unnecessary pressure on our service and A&E departments at an extremely busy time.”
Policy implications
Professor Fitzgerald said: “The views expressed by paramedics are powerful and give pause for thought about whether business recovery post-COVID has to mean a return to the ‘mass intoxication’ described.
“This is surely an opportunity for politicians and clinicians to show leadership in pushing for better alcohol policies that protect the NHS and frontline services. At a time when policymakers want to support the hospitality sector, but also wish to protect health services, there is an opportunity to put in place win-win policies that can do both.”
The research team suggest that one such policy could be to increase the minimum unit price of shop-purchased alcohol to reduce consumption within homes without affecting prices in bars. Other possibilities discussed are restrictions on online sales and licensing changes.
The research teams are analysing separately if and how the 50p minimum unit price, introduced in Scotland in 2018, has impacted alcohol-related ambulance callouts, as well as exploring expert and stakeholder views on this and other ‘win-win’ policies.
The researchers used data from the ‘Evaluating the impact of alcohol licensing in England and Scotland (ExILEnS)’ project, funded by the National Institute for Health Research’s Public Health Research Programme; and the ‘Impact of minimum pricing for alcohol on ambulance callouts in Scotland (IMPAACT)’ and ‘Lockdown and Licensed Premises’ studies, both funded by the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office.
The new paper, Lockdown and Licensed Premises: COVID-19 Lessons for Alcohol Policy, is published in Drug and Alcohol Review.
There have been over 500 verbal or physical assaults on the Scottish Ambulance Service’s staff by members of the public between January 2020 and October 2021, new data from the Service has revealed.
In one incident in Oxgangs, Edinburgh on 20th November, the Service received a hoax call for a cardiac arrest, and when a crew were dispatched to the scene, the vehicle was hit with a number of unknown objects. There have also been incidents where call handlers have been verbally-assaulted, and staff members have been spat at.
The Service has a range of measures in place to help protect staff, such as training in managing aggression and assessing risk, and areas where staff have previously faced violence or threatening behaviour are taken into consideration and communicated to attending crews. However assaults against staff leave a lasting effect, and as we come into the party season, it’s more important than ever to raise awareness of the issues.
The Scottish Government has also recently launched a campaign to tackle attacks against front-line staff. Their Health Worker Respect Campaign has been produced to help reduce levels of violent and abusive behaviour being experienced by health and social care workers following increased demands on NHS services as a result of the Covid pandemic. It also aims to raise awareness of the challenges staff are facing and the consequences inappropriate behaviour can have on staff members.
Pauline Howie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “Assaults and anti-social behaviour are completely unacceptable, and our staff should not have to fear for their safety when treating patients, or to be verbally-assaulted over the phone when handling calls.
“They work incredibly hard, helping people in need and keeping them safe, and sadly, we’ve seen incidents occur in other parts of the NHS and against our police and fire colleagues too. We also provide support to staff to report incidents to Police Scotland, so that they can take the matter further.”
Total Number of Incidents by Incident date (Month and year) and Category
Unite Scotland has today revealed the details of a ‘devastating’ survey conducted of nearly 300 Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) workers.
The survey conducted over the last month by the trade union among its SAS members reveals a ‘horrifying’ picture of the nation’s ambulance service due to years of ‘chronic underfunding’.
The survey reveals that by huge majorities SAS workers feel under-valued, fatigued; that staff morale has collapsed, with the vast majority of workers stating the nation’s ambulance service is under-resourced and under-staffed.
Substantial majorities of SAS workers also state that they have considered leaving the ambulance service and reported that they have been abused at work in the last year.
The headline survey findings reveal the following:
98.2% believe that Scottish Government’s extra investment of £20m into the SAS and support from the armed services will ‘not be enough’ during the winter months;
88.2% do not feel valued by the Scottish Government and 84.6% do not feel valued by the SAS;
86.7% of SAS workers felt that staff morale was either poor (30.8%) or very poor (55.9%);
86.4% feel fatigued at work while 78.9% believe the SAS is under-staffed;
81.5% have suffered verbal or physical abuse, or both, while working at the SAS within the last year;
73.6% of respondents said they have considered leaving the SAS;
70% do not get the necessary break times during shifts;
53.8% stated that there were not enough ambulances at ‘station level’; and
44.3% stated that the longest shift they have worked was between 12-15 hours, 30%between 15-20 hours; 17.5% between 10-12 hours while 5.7% stated it was under 10 hours and 2.5% over 20 hours.
In a previous Daily Record Exclusive on 9 September, Unite called for a ‘major incident’ status to be declared at all hospitals with Accident and Emergency Units, where turnaround times exceed 30 minutes.
The demand was made by Unite to protect the public who have made 999 calls in the community, amid patient safety concerns due to 6 hours service running times.
On average, an ambulance response to a 999 call can take between 55 minutes, and 1 hour and 10 minutes, from call to completion. However, ambulances are now missing three 999 calls while located at a hospital waiting for patient handovers.
The survey findings shed new light on this depressing situation with nearly 71% of respondents declaring that the longest 999 call they have been involved in from call to completion exceeded six hours: (16.3% – over 20 hours), (11.7% between 15-20 hours), (6.3% between 12-15 hours), (4.6% between 10-12 hours), (5.4% between 8-10 hours), and (26.4% between 6-8 hours), with the remainder being under 6 hours.
Worryingly, 94.5% of survey respondents involved in ambulance 999 call-outs believed the clinical coding to ascertain the severity of the situation was wrong. In addition, 54.7% answered ‘yes’ to the question ‘due to longer service running times has your ‘call’ been involved in an adverse clinical event due to delays and hospital pressures?’
Unite Scotland has repeatedly warned the Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf, that the extra investment and resources for the SAS would ‘not be enough’ to deal with the crises affecting the nation’s health services, which the survey findings conclusively confirm.
Pat Rafferty, Unite Scottish Secretary, in response to the survey findings, said: “I don’t think I have ever seen such an utterly depressing and horrifying situation with massive implications for the nation.
“The workers at the Scottish Ambulance Service are sending out their own 999 call to the Scottish Government saying that they are undervalued, stressed, and exhausted. It is now beyond breaking point.
“The levels of abuse the workers are suffering is inexcusable. The vast majority of those responding to our survey are going as far as to say they are now considering leaving the ambulance service.
“Shockingly, the survey reveals a culture of extremely long hours, partially due to chronic underfunding over many years, and the overwhelming stresses being placed on the system. This situation is directly leading to paramedics and ambulance staff being increasingly involved in adverse clinical events, and dangerously long response times.
“It is a devasting indictment of the Scottish Government’s approach to the ambulance service. Urgent action is necessary because lives are at risk alongside the fundamental issue of how we value those trying to save those lives.”
A woman who performed CPR on her husband has sent a heartfelt thanks to the call handler who saved his life after giving instructions over the phone.
Karen Galloway, 42, of Cambuslang, Glasgow, has praised call handler, Sarah Mark, and said her husband would not be alive today if not for her actions on September 28, 2021.
She said: “Sarah saved my husband’s life and because of that our sons still have their Dad and I can’t thank her enough. She was amazing; she was not only my husband’s guardian angel that night but our family’s.”
Describing the “terrifying” incident, Karen said she was at home with Alan, 46, and sons, Cameron and Nathan. Alan had “gone about his day and evening as normal”, before she noticed part of his speech sounded “slurred”.
She added: “He said he felt fine and he looked fine. He then went into kitchen but as our son Cameron was at the top of the stairs he heard a noise, he ran down then he called for me.
“By the time I got downstairs, he had stopped physically seizing but his mouth was clamped shut and his limbs and hands ridged. His eyes were open. I asked him if he was ok; he made a noise and squeezed my hand. He then closed his eyes and went into what we thought was a sleep. I put him in the recovery position.”
Karen said she called for an ambulance, as Alan was having “more frequent seizures”, and his breathing was not normal. Sarah, a call handler based at The Scottish Ambulance Service’s East Ambulance Control Centre in South Queensferry, answered.
Karen added: “Sarah was fantastic; she was very calm, reassuring me I was doing a good job and I was doing everything ok. She then asked me to let her know every time Alan took a breath in and out. I knew his breathing wasn’t right; it was getting longer between breaths and longer exhaling.
“She told me an ambulance was on its way with blue lights and siren. I was terrified on the inside as our two sons could see Alan was struggling.”
Karen was asked by Sarah to start giving instructions for CPR over the phone.
She added: “I was petrified because I knew what was coming next. She asked me to get him on to his back and tilt his head back to open airway. She asked me again to count his breaths in and out. I knew she was going to say he needs help and needs CPR but never in a million years did I think it would be me doing it.
“Sarah said ‘I need you to listen to me as you need to start CPR, count with me 1,2,3,4.’
Our two sons where hysterical at this point and I had to say to our oldest son Cameron ‘I need you to stay calm, go see your brother. I need to be able to hear the instructions from Sarah loud and clear to help your Dad’.”
After telling Sarah she was ready, Karen started to give CPR. She added: “With each chest compression, I kept saying to myself ‘please God don’t take him from me, not yet’, and by the grace of God he started breathing normally and came round. I have never felt so sick, relieved all at once.”
Just as he had come round the ambulance crew – Amanda Clark, Paramedic and Audrey Gillies, Paramedic, both of Hamilton Station, along with Melanie Mcdevitt, Paramedic of Springburn Station, arrived after being dispatched by Mandy Brogan.
Karen said: “I have never been so relieved to see an ambulance crew in all my life. The ambulance crew were amazing. They came in, took over, and were continually telling Alan and I what they were doing.
“Members of our family had arrived and one ambulance crew member went out and spoke to all the family, reassuring them he was okay and what they were doing and where they would take him.
“The service from the call handler to the ambulance crew was amazing, I can’t fault them. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough. To all the ambulance crew and Sarah a million thank yous. This has shown us just how precious life is and not take it for granted. ”
An Ambulance Control Centre (ACC) Call Hander for the Scottish Ambulance Service has been named UK Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year, following his involvement in helping deliver a baby over the phone.
Neil Hardy, who works as a call hander at East ACC, was presented with the prestigious award at UK Navigator, the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) conference.
Neil was praised for his role in saving the life of a mother and newborn baby, after receiving a call from the father, who was driving to hospital on the motorway. The mother had gone into labour in the back of the car, and Neil provided instructions over the phone for the father to deliver the baby at the side of the motorway, all the while helping to keep him calm.
However the baby came out feet first, and was not breathing when delivered. Neil instructed the father to clear the airwaves and administer CPR and when the crew arrived the baby was breathing, and both the baby and the mum, made a full recovery.
Neil said: “Being nominated for the award of Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year by my colleagues is extremely humbling. To have been selected by the IAED as the 2021 winner is an amazing personal achievement as well as a huge reflection on all of us within ambulance control in Scotland.
“Within the ACC it’s acknowledged that assisting with the delivery of a baby over the phone is one of the most challenging calls to take. In this particular case there were added complications with the birth, including the limited space of a car backseat on the side of a motorway.
“Later finding out that both Mum and Baby have recovered and are doing well is hugely rewarding and reflects on the efforts and expertise of the whole team involved in their care.
“Emergency call handlers are the first ambulance response to patients calling for help and I am proud to be part of the team that does this in Scotland.”
Pauline Howie, Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “Our call handlers are the first line of contact between patients and the ambulance crew, and their knowledge, experience and ability to keep calm under pressure can make such a difference to patients and save lives.
“I’m so proud of Neil Hardy for his actions, and this award is testament to his dedication, and of the ACC as a whole, in providing care to patients across Scotland.”
Other SAS finalists at the event included Neil Spiers, Kirsten Mann, and Suzanne Stuart.
There’s been another deliberate fire in North Edinburgh – for the third successive weekend.
This time, a garden shed in Easter Drylaw Drive was set ablaze in the early hours of this morning. Police, fire and ambulance services were on the scene from 1.30am and the road was temporarily closed while the fire was tackled.
It’s the third weekend in a row that there have been wilful fireraising incidents in the North Edinburgh community – and all have taken place in the early hours of the morning.
Last week’s meeting of Drylaw Telford Community Council discussed the arson incidents that took place on 18 September and the group issued an appeal on their Facebook page:
‘These fires were devastating to those affected and we are extremely lucky that more people were not injured. The “what if’s” do not bear thinking about.
‘The unusually dry weather for September that we have had recently would make any fire spread faster therefore It is so important that the perpetrators are caught and for this not to happen again.
‘The police have been talking to residents that have CCTV but we would urge anyone with CCTV, ring doorbell camera’s etc who have not yet been contacted to please contact:
The Police on 101 quoting incident number 0765 of the 18th September 2021.
Anonomously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
Message this page and we can forward information
‘Likewise, if anyone has any information at all, then please make contact using the above methods.’
