Lack of 999 cover for busy Harley weekend
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AVIEMORE was covered by only a single-manned ambulance for most of the Harley Davidson Thunder in the Glens rally, it has emerged.
It means that a casualty could be attended to but not taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness in the event of an emergency until a second ambulance crew had arrived at the scene.
It is understood the village only had an ambulance with single crew rather than double crew available last Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday until 5pm.
There were an estimated 3000 motorcyclists in the area for the UK's biggest Harley rally.
GMB Scotland also said Kingussie only had a single manned crew in operation from just after midnight on Thursday until Sunday morning.
The union said the situation is simply not acceptable and poses a real danger.
Along with the Strathy, the GMB has been calling for the Scottish Ambulance Service to get rid of the current on-call system and to replace it with 24/7 shifts to bring the Aviemore base into line with most other stations in Scotland.
John Marr, GMB branch secretary, said: "Only a first responder service would have been able to be provided by an ambulance with single crew.
"This would have involved looking after the casualty at the location until back up arrived.
"We think it is dangerous and we are stepping up our calls on the government to provide the Scottish Ambulance Service with the funds required to give Badenoch and Strathspey the service the area deserves.
"At the moment we are going round in circles asking why there is no 24/7 cover despite Aviemore being one of the busiest tourism spots in the whole of Scotland.
"We have repeatedly informed the Scottish Ambulance Service that this is a dangerous situation but nothing is happening."
Highland Council convener and local councillor Bill Lobban, said: "The current level of ambulance cover is clearly completely unacceptable.
"Given our population added to the huge number of visitors we see on a daily basis the Scottish Ambulance Service needs to make sure we have sufficient staff on duty to provide a safe and effective service. That is clearly not the case at present and we now have the situation that lives are being put at risk."
Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes (SNP) said she will be writing to the 999 service asking for more information.
She said: "It would be really unfortunate if visitors and residents felt unsafe on a weekend of such importance."
A ambulance service spokesman said: "We carefully assess the demand on our services and always ensure we have sufficient resources in place to deal with any potential emergencies. We were aware of the motorcycle rally at Aviemore at the weekend – while there was single-crewed cover in Kingussie on the Friday and Saturday because of unplanned sickness, we ensured both areas had adequate back up.
"We are in the process of recruiting an additional 1,000 paramedics across Scotland. Where a single crewed is sent to a call they will be immediately backed up by another resource where necessary."
The Scottish Government has previously said single crewing should only occur in "exceptional circumstances".
Paramedics were sent on their own to 2204 emergency call-outs in 2016/17, according to figures earlier this year.
* See this week's Strathy for Thunder in the Glens pics.
