Almost 90 extra ambulance staff being recruited for East of Scotland

The Scottish Ambulance Service is boosting its resources in the East of Scotland as part of its Demand and Capacity Programme.

An extra 88 frontline staff – a mixture of paramedics, newly qualified paramedics (NQPs) and technicians – will be located across the East region and are due be in place by April 2022.

Extra ambulances and vehicles will also be introduced over the coming months, including two in Edinburgh.

This is in addition to 139 staff in the West and 69 in the North.

The Demand and Capacity programme, which is supported by a £20m investment from the Scottish Government, aims to better align resources to meet current and projected patient demand.

Kenny Freeburn, East Regional Director, Scottish Ambulance Service said: “This funding is great news for the Service and is allowing us to continue to increase our investment in new frontline staff, new ambulances and new vehicles at pace.

“These new resources will ensure we continue to deliver the very best patient care by boosting capacity and increasing our resilience in communities across Scotland. They’ll also complement our dedicated staff who have worked tirelessly over the last 18 months in extremely demanding circumstances.”

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: "Our ambulance staff have been at the heart of the response to the Coronavirus pandemic and we all owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their courage, commitment and professionalism.

"These additional resources show that this Government is determined to ensure they have the support needed to meet patient demand as the NHS continues to remobilise.

"Our recent recovery plan targeted over £1 billion of investment over the next five years across the whole health system to increase capacity and ensure the health service is ready for the challenges ahead."