Sickness soars as ambulance staff are ‘run ragged’

More than half a million hours have been lost to staff sickness at the Scottish Ambulance Service. Picture: John Devlin

SICKNESS levels among ambulance service workers have soared to a ten-year high with more than 570,000 hours lost since June 2014.

A report before the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) board this week revealed a 7 per cent absence rate, compared to the 5 per cent average across NHS Scotland, and the UK private sector mean of 1.8 per cent.

The levels were branded “unacceptably high” by Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw, who called for ministers to intervene to help the struggling service.

Mr Carlaw MSP said: “Taxpayers and patients will be mortified at these tens of thousands of hours lost each month as a direct result of people being off sick.

“Not only does it have a financial consequence, it clearly puts immense strain on the staff who are left to get on with what is a tough and thankless job.

“And all of that risks a poorer quality of service for patients, some of whose lives depend on ambulances.”

These figures, which are the highest since recording began in 2005, show the SAS is struggling to meet its own target of five per cent.

• Drunk Scots call for ambulance every 21 minutes

Last year the ambulance service reported a sickness rate of more than 6 per cent, while in 2013 the figure was 6.5 per cent.

Earlier this year, it emerged bosses were even considering setting up a dedicated absence hotline just to deal with staff phoning in sick.

A paramedic, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Scotsman that staff were being “run ragged” due to the unsustainable workload.