UNITE has called on the Scottish Ambulance Service to declare a major incident at all hospitals where accident and emergency (A&E) turnaround times exceed 30 minutes.

The union has raised concerns that patient safety is being put at risk by Scotland’s long A&E waiting times.

On average, an ambulance response can take between 55 minutes and one hour, 10 minutes from call to completion, but they are now taking six hours due to “system overload.”

A major incident is any occurrence that presents a serious threat to the health of the community and requires special arrangements to be implemented.  

The status is currently normal, but if the ambulance service declares a major incident, other public health bodies are required to offer help immediately.

Unite convener for the Scottish Ambulance Service Jamie McNamee said: “It’s essential that we elevate the status immediately because having ambulance crews tied up for extensive periods and subsequent fatigue, due to the long hours, is a known public safety issue.”

A spokeswoman for the service said that it maximised resource provision, placed all clinical staff on front-line duties and sought support to minimise delays.