Lives are being put in danger across Dumfries and Galloway as ‘unacceptable’ long ambulance waits have been recorded on the deadliest ambulance call outs, South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth has said.

Statistics obtained by a Scottish Labour FOI have revealed waits almost an hour have been recorded for critical purple code call-outs.

The target response time for purple and red calls is eight minutes.

Purple code call-outs are reserved for the most critically ill patients – with the Scottish Ambulance Service estimating that the actual cardiac arrest rate across this category to be 53%.

At the same time, the reported turnaround times for ambulances arriving at hospitals with patients to the vehicle being ready to respond to a new call are lengthy, dangerous and unacceptable.

At Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, turnaround times of over one day were recorded last year.

Colin Smyth said: “Purple call-outs are more often than not a matter of life and death – but lives are being put at risk due to unacceptable waits.

“I speak to ambulance technicians and paramedics all the time and I know they are working tirelessly to save lives across Dumfries and Galloway, but it is clear our NHS is struggling to cope. Workers are frustrated that they can’t get to calls quicker because they are stretched and then on occasions even find themselves sitting outside hospitals waiting for beds to be freed up.

“Years of SNP failure to remobilise our NHS, including tackling delayed discharge, and their failure to support primary care and social care services have led our NHS into crisis with more and more patients presenting late and often in emergencies.

“Health Secretary Neil Gray must wake up to this deadly crisis and act before the situation deteriorates further.”