Vital ambulance equipment failing everyday in Scotland as fears of deaths raised

Five pieces of equipment in Scotland's ambulances are failing everyday
-Credit: (Image: Getty Images)


Five pieces of crucial equipment in Scotland's ambulances fail everyday - raising fears over potential harm and possible death.

The Daily Record reports that, last year, there were 1,826 equipment failures within the Scottish Ambulance Service. That number has more than tripled since 2018 when there were 553 recorded.

The incidents were recorded on web-based software system, Datix. This system is used by healthcare organisations to report incidents and manage risk.

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It is used to gather information about processes and errors and to alert the healthcare system to risks which could lead to patient harm or death.

Ambulances carry vital equipment including defibrillators, analgesics like air and gas and a suction unit for aid in choking incidents. Failures in any one of them could pose a serious risk.

The Freedom of Information Request by the Scottish Labour Party found there has been a steady rise in incidents over the last five years.

In 2019 there were 690 incidents, 2020 -747, 2021 - 1463 and 2022 - 1681.

One ambulance insider suggested one of the main problems could lie with defibrillators, the most vital equipment when a patient is in cardiac arrest.

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He said: “We took over new defibrillators at that time and staff are starting to notice bits aren’t working.

“We are supposed to get time to check over equipment at the start of a shift but we don’t get nearly enough time now.

“If we had able to carry out checks at the start we could fix them before we left but once we are out on the road and it fails it becomes a patient issue and has to be recorded on the Datix.”

He said if a defibrillator fails when attending to a patient it becomes a serious issue.

“If it is just being used to monitor a patient we would call for another ambulance to bring one out but if someone has a cardiac arrest we would be calling for emergency back up asap and it is a case of hands on the chest until they arrive.”

Ambulance unions branded the new figures “shocking”.

Pat McIlvogue, Unite’s industrial officer, said: “The fact that there has been a 230 per cent reporting increase over five years in faulty and substandard medical equipment onboard ambulances is shocking and deeply alarming.

“Unite’s paramedics in the Scottish Ambulance Service are routinely raising problems with equipment such as defibrillators breaking down and having to call for emergency back-up in life-threatening situations.

“It’s important to highlight that due to understaffing, fatigue and the intense time pressures on ambulance crews, there is minimal or no opportunity to check over equipment prior to attending an emergency call.”

And he revealed: “The provision of equipment on ambulances is on the verge of further deteriorating because there is a proposal to massively reduce the supply and use of endotracheal tubes.

“This piece of kit is considered gold-standard by our members, and it helps provide oxygen to the airway in an emergency.

“Unite is robustly raising these concerns with the Scottish Ambulance Service and it is an issue which we are directly taking up with government ministers because our paramedics need every piece of equipment, and it must be of the highest quality in order to save lives.”

Karen Leonard, GMB Scotland organiser in NHS Scotland, said: “The most important resource of the Scottish Ambulance Service is the skill, experience and commitment of our members.

“Their ability to care for patients will rest on their equipment, however, and they rely on that kit in life and death situations every single day.

“Our members check the equipment in their ambulance at the start of their shift before but the half-hour necessary for those checks is rarely available because of the pressure on crews to attend calls.

“We have for some time been urging management to ensure crews are given the necessary time to fully check their equipment before leaving the station.

“The worrying figures revealed by the Record suggest that is now an absolute priority.”

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Last night Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the Scottish Government must address the spiralling numbers of incidents involving ambulance equipment failures “before lives are lost”.

She said: “Ambulances race through streets to rescue us at our time of greatest need.

“It’s tragic to think this incredible effort could be put in doubt by something as simple as an equipment failure, but these figures show that such incidents are becoming all too frequent.

“The SNP Government must deal with this ambulance equipment meltdown – it’s a matter of life or death.”

Last night, however, a Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson the statistics were “misleading”.

They said: “There has been no reduction in any vehicle or vehicle-based equipment maintenance arrangements.

“Frequency, scope, training and funding have all remained consistent or have been enhanced through learning opportunities.

“We continually encourage staff to report events and issues, irrelevant of how small, and this has resulted in an increase in issues being reported.”

The spokesperson added: “The Scottish Ambulance Service is led by best practice and evidence-based care and in line with other UK ambulance services, we are transitioning from endotracheal intubation (ETI) to I-gels for routine ambulance airway care.

“The Service will continue to have advanced practitioners and pre-hospital critical care teams able to undertake ETI where clinically indicated.”

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