THE Scottish Ambulance Service is creating 103 new frontline jobs in Glasgow and Lanarkshire in an attempt to improve response times.
The GBP3.5m investment, which will increase staffing levels by 20-per cent, is mainly being put into taking on new paramedics and technicians on ambulances. The service is also expected to take on up to nine extra ambulances.
Staff are already being recruited and the full complement is expected to be in place by the end of next month, it was revealed yesterday It comes as the service announced that the average response time for life threatening emergency calls in Scotland had improved from 8.6 minutes in 2004/05 to 8.4 minutes in 2005/06, despite an increase in demand for ambulances. In Greater Glasgow the response times over the same period have been cut from 8.9 minutes to 8.8 and in Lanarkshire the drop is more significant, from 9.6 to 9.2 minutes.
Last year the service came in for criticism in August when it was revealed that, despite new hi-tech equipment, response times to 999 calls increased across Scotland, from 7.8 minutes in 1995-1996, to 8.4 in 2005/06.
The Scottish Ambulance Service at the time said it was unfair to compare the figures from last year with those from 10 years ago because the way they record response times had changed.
John Morton, a service spokesman, said the move was in response to a greater demand for swift action on emergencies. Last year there were 102,000 emergencies which involved taking patients to accident and emergency units in Glasgow and 55,000 in Lanarkshire.
"It is a significant investment in resources in Glasgow and Lanarkshire. We face the biggest demand on resources in those areas and we feel that that demand is at a level that requires those extra resources to deliver the appropriate improvements in patient care."
Unison, the UK's largest health union, welcomed the move saying that it had been arguing for extra resources to cope with increasing demands for patient care for some time.
Andy Kerr, Scottish health minister, said: "The continued investment in additional frontline jobs will have a positive impact on response times and the delivery of patient care."
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