By Lucy Ashton
The true scale of Scotland’s ambulance crisis is laid bare in “terrifying” new statistics showing code-red patients waiting up to 18 hours for help to arrive.
Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives, through freedom of information requests, show that since January 2024 one patient in that category waited over 17 hours for an ambulance in Lothian, while another waited 18 hours in the Highlands.
Code-red patients are those deemed to be at risk of cardiac arrest or at risk of needing resuscitation.
The figures also show that one code-purple patient – those who are deemed the most critically ill and most at risk of cardiac arrest – was forced to wait over four hours for an ambulance in Glasgow in the last year.
The Scottish Ambulance Service’s target median response time for code-purple cases is seven minutes.
Shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane, who described the waiting times as “scandalous”, accused the SNP of putting patients’ lives at risk due to their “chronic mismanagement” of the service.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, pictured left, said: “These terrifying figures expose how patients’ lives are being jeopardised because our ambulance service is dangerously overstretched after years of chronic SNP mismanagement.
“It’s scandalous that patients with potentially life-threatening conditions can’t count on getting an ambulance in their hour of need – with some waiting close to a day before paramedics arrive. That’s an ‘emergency’ service in name only.
“Everywhere you look in Scotland’s NHS, one SNP failure is interlinked with another. The crisis in A&E led to an estimated 800 avoidable deaths last year, and that, along with ministers’ failure to tackle delayed discharge explains the ambulance-stacking outside hospitals which underpins these intolerable response times.
“Dedicated frontline staff are working tirelessly to keep patients safe, but they are being left with one arm tied behind their back by the SNP.
“Neil Gray needs to take action now. He should adopt our plans to slash bureaucracy, cut middle management and prioritise getting resources to the frontline.”
Code purple is the most serious ambulance category and covers critically ill patients. It covers the most critically ill patients, where a patient is identified as having a 10% or more chance of having a cardiac arrest. (Scottish Ambulance Service, 24 September 2025, link)
Code red is the second most serious ambulance category and covers those at risk of cardiac arrest. It covers where a patient is identified as having a likelihood of cardiac arrest between 1% and 9.9%, or having a need for resuscitation interventions such as airway management above 2%. (Scottish Ambulance Service, 24 September 2025, link)
Between January 2024 and August 2025, the slowest maximum ambulance response time for a code red was in NHS Highland at 1124 minutes. This translates to over 18.7 hours. (Scottish Ambulance Service FOI, 14 August 2025, available upon request)
Between January 2024 and August 2025, the second slowest maximum ambulance response time for a code red was in NHS Lothian at 1035 minutes. This translates to 17.2 hours. (Scottish Ambulance Service FOI, 14 August 2025, available upon request)
Between January 2024 and August 2025, the slowest maximum ambulance response time for a code purple was in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde at 268 minutes. This translates to 4.4 hours. (Scottish Ambulance Service FOI, 14 August 2025, available upon request)
Between January 2024 and August 2025, the second slowest maximum ambulance response time for a code purple was in NHS Lanarkshire at 247 minutes. This translates to 4.1 hours. (Scottish Ambulance Service FOI, 14 August 2025, available upon request)
The Scottish Ambulance Service’s median response time target for code purple calls is seven minutes. In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service’s median response time target for code red calls is eight minutes, both of which are a minute longer than in 2019-20. (Scottish Sun, 25 December 2024, link).