FOI 25-441 Cumbernauld and Lanarkshire Responses
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-441 Cumbernauld and Lanarkshire Responses
- Request Date
- 07 Oct 2025
- Response Date
- 30 Oct 2025
- Information Requested
Please provide the following information for the last five financial years (2020/21 to 2024/25), or for the most recent period available.
1. Incident Categorisation
• A list or description of the incident categories or prioritisation levels currently used by the Scottish Ambulance Service (e.g. “Purple”, “Red”, “Amber”, “Yellow”, or equivalent), including:
• Definitions or criteria for each category;
• The corresponding target response times (mean, median, or percentile targets as applicable).
• If these categories have changed during the five-year period, please include historical definitions and targets for each relevant year.
2. Response Time Performance
For each of the categories listed above, please provide:
• The average (mean and median) response time;
• The 90th percentile response time (if available);
• The percentage of calls meeting target response times;
for each of the following areas:
1. Cumbernauld area
2. North Lanarkshire local authority area
3. Scotland overall (national figures)
Please include annual data for each of the past five financial years.
If the Service does not routinely report at “town” level, please provide the data using the nearest operational or statistical boundary (e.g. postcode sector, divisional area, or local response base), and indicate which boundary was used.
3. Resource Availability
• The number of frontline ambulance resources (e.g. double-crewed ambulances, rapid response vehicles, paramedic response units) typically allocated to or operating within the Cumbernauld area and North Lanarkshire, for each of the past five years.
• Details of any changes in resource coverage or deployment models affecting Cumbernauld or North Lanarkshire during this period (e.g. new or removed stations, changes to shift patterns, standby points, or station closures/openings).
• Any available information on average unit hours or shift hours per day allocated to Cumbernauld-based crews or resources.
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4. Call Volume and Context
• The total number of emergency incidents attended in:
• The Cumbernauld area,
• North Lanarkshire, and
• Scotland overall,
for each of the last five years, broken down by incident category if available.
5. Supporting Information
• Copies or summaries of any internal performance reports, dashboards, or board papers (from 2023–2025) that reference response times or resource deployment for the Cumbernauld or North Lanarkshire area.
• If available, any Equality or Service Impact Assessments that have considered service provision or response performance across these areas.- Response
- Incident Categorisation
Please see below a list of the call categories held within the Scottish Ambulance Service and a short description for each. More information on the call categories can be found on our website - Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics
- Purple – Most critically ill patients (e.g., cardiac arrest)
- Red – High likelihood of needing resuscitation
- Amber – Likely to need diagnosis and transport
- Yellow – Low likelihood of needing life-saving intervention
- Green –Non-urgentscheduled care
These call categories were introduced in November 2016 and have not changed since implementation.
The Scottish Ambulance Service has target times for Purple and Red Calls – I am applying section 25 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as this information is available on our website in a previously answered FOI - FOI 25-405 Fixed Target Times.
- Response Time Performance
Please see the attached sheet detailing the total number of incidents attended, median1 response times, average response times and 90th Percentile2 response times for the whole of Scotland from 01/01/2020-30/09/2025.
Also included on the sheet is a breakdown of the same information for North Lanarkshire and Cumbernauld.
Please note: the response times show total time and do not factor in possible upgrading or downgrading that may occur depending on the patient condition. For example, a call may start out as a yellow call, subsequently be upgraded to a purple call some time later, but only the total time from the first call received is shown. The starting point is always set for the colour category first determined, not the final colour category assigned. Where delays occur, clinical advisors maintain contact with the patient, checking their condition on an ongoing basis, and upgrading when appropriate.
- Resource Availability
The information you have requested is already publicly available and accessible via the Scottish Ambulance Service website. In accordance with Section 25 of FOISA – Information otherwise accessible – we are not required to provide information that is already reasonably accessible to the applicant.
You can access the relevant information at the following link: fleet-list-20250806.pdf
- Call Volume and Context
The total number of calls within each category and year has been provided on the attached sheet referred to in Q2 .
- Supporting Information
Following our Demand & Capacity (Demand and Capacity) review in 2023, there have been no changes to our permanent resource cover or deployment models in Lanarkshire. Operational pressures through Winter may see additional resources applied. This is dependent on a number of factors and they may not be placed in North Lanarkshire. However, with all ambulance response, it is the nearest most appropriate resource that is deployed to an emergency incident meaning that at times, ambulances from alternative base locations would attend and support demand in Cumbernauld/North Lanarkshire if required.
Cumbernauld Ambulance Station averages 2 double crewed ambulances each hour of the day, and 1 Paramedic Response Unit providing between 21- 22 hrs coverage per day.
The information you have requested is already publicly available and accessible via the Scottish Ambulance Service website. In accordance with Section 25 of FOISA – Information otherwise accessible – we are not required to provide information that is already reasonably accessible to the applicant. The Scottish Ambulance Service publishes all Board Quality Indicators Performance Reports after the Board Meeting has taken place. These can be found here - Board Papers.
We also publish the Scottish Ambulance Service unscheduled care operational statistics (Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics) that contain response time details held broken down by health board area.
These reports are not produced in a station specific way but are held with regional breakdowns.
We hold an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) for the Demand and Capacity Programme (Equality Impact Assessments), completed in 2020 and refreshed in 2021. It is available here: Equality Impact Assessments. The programme aimed to assess capacity and workforce needs in unscheduled care to meet performance targets and improve staff experience. It concluded in June/July 2023, so while relevant, it falls outside the timeframe specified in your request.
We do not hold any Service Impact Assessments specifically for Cumbernauld or North Lanarkshire.
Important Information to Consider
The Scottish Ambulance Service operates as a national service, which means its vehicles and crews are not confined to their base locations. Resources are regularly deployed across different areas to respond to incidents wherever they arise, and similarly, local incidents may be attended by units from other regions.
To reflect this operational flexibility and provide a more accurate picture of overall resource demand and capacity, reporting is aggregated at the health board level. This approach helps capture the broader patterns of service delivery and ensures that data reflects the true scale and distribution of activity across regions.
- Response Documents
