Almost 12,000 malicious calls to ambulance service in past decade

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that malicious calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service are “reckless and life-threatening”, as he revealed there have been 11,774 of these calls over the past decade.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request to the service revealed that since 2014, ambulance staff have had to deal with 11,774 hoax calls.

It also revealed that since 2020, they have spent almost 119,183 minutes dealing with them. That’s the equivalent of 1,986 hours of staff time.

Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“Hoax calls to the ambulance service are reckless and life-threatening. Each one of them represents a call handler who is unable to help save a life elsewhere.

“With staff across our NHS burnt out and overwhelmed, this is the very last thing they need.

“Every year, I warn about the number of malicious calls to the ambulance service, which are still taking up far too much precious time. Patients and staff deserve better.

“I want to see the Scottish Government making clear to the public the devastating consequences of these hoax calls.

"Far too many people have horror stories about long waits for an ambulance. The Scottish Liberal Democrats believe Scotland deserves better than this and we have a realistic plan to get things done.

"That means giving the ambulance service the necessary resources and support to attend call-outs as quickly as possible.

"In many constituencies we are on the verge of winning against the SNP but wherever you are, every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second, peach, regional ballot paper will deliver change with fairness at its heart."