Hopes raised on additional Ambulance coverage for Moray

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ADDITIONAL AMBULANCE RESOURCES should be on the way to Moray soon with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport giving an assurance to Moray’s MSP.

Richard Lochhead has been campaigning for an increased Ambulance provision in Moray and was involved in talks on the issue as far back as December 2016, when he met with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The issue was also raised with NHS Grampian by Mr Lochhead who was aware that several ambulance crews had been called from outside their operational area – some taking four times that expected of them to reach an emergency situation.

This week the MSP asked the Cabinet Secretary for an update, and was informed that discussions with NHS Grampian were continuing with a business case for increased facilities almost concluded and expected to report by the end of this month.

Referring to Shona Robison’s recent meeting with ambulance workers in Elgin, Mr Lochhead told the Cabinet Secretary: “The service has had to cope with its own pressures in Moray over the past few years. As the cabinet secretary said, there has been some recognition of that with additional resources.

“However, outstanding issues remain in terms of having an additional, new emergency ambulance based in Elgin and with the on-call situation in Dufftown to be addressed as well. I would be grateful if the cabinet secretary could keep a close eye on that and put pressure on the Scottish Ambulance Service to expedite those long-standing decisions.”

After paying tribute to the Scottish Ambulance Service, Shona Robison said: “I had a very productive meeting with many of the front-line staff in Elgin and I pay tribute to Richard Lochhead for raising the issues concerned on a consistent basis.

“As he will be aware, a number of initiatives are under way to help to address those issues. I will be keeping a very close eye on them and would be very happy to keep Richard Lochhead informed of those developments as they go forward.”