FOI 25-586 Purple and Red Incident Response and Turnaround Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-586 Purple and Red Incident Response and Turnaround Times
- Request Date
- 17 Dec 2025
- Response Date
- 24 Dec 2025
- Information Requested
I am looking for information regarding both the average and longest waiting times for ambulances and the turnaround times for ambulances arriving at hospitals and the length of time they had to wait before handing over to colleagues in the Emergency Dept. As such, please provide the following information:
The average and longest waiting times for an ambulance to arrive at a purple or red incident, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available, with a breakdown by each week and location.
2. Emergency Hospital Turnaround Times, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available.
3. Breakdown of turnaround times in every Emergency Dept across Scotland, incl. information on
the longest waits, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available.
- Response
- The average and longest waiting times for an ambulance to arrive at a purple or red incident, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available, with a breakdown by each week and location.
Please see the attached sheet, tab named ‘Response Times’, detailing the response times for Red and Purple coded calls broken down by Health Board and by week from 24/03/2025 - 08/12/2025. This information includes the total number of attended incidents, average response time, median1 response time, 90th percentile2 response time and the maximum response time.
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.
For the given data, you will see that some of the figures are shown as, five or less than five, please note that this figure has been suppressed because the statistical value is less than five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore widely understood that provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less are statistically suppressed upon disclosure
- Emergency Hospital Turnaround Times, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available.
- Breakdown of turnaround times in every Emergency Dept across Scotland, incl. information onthe longest waits, from 24/03/2025 to the most recent stats available.
Please see the attached sheet, tab named ‘Turnaround Times’, detailing the turnaround times broken down by hospital and by week from 24/03/2025 - 08/12/2025. This information includes the total number of conveyances, average turnaround time, median 3turnaround time, 90th percentile4 turnaround time and the maximum turnaround time.
The Service does record turnaround times, which is from when an ambulance arrives at hospital to the point of departure. These turnaround times are affected by a wide range of factors, including ambulance staff cleaning vehicles following patient transportation, supporting the ongoing care of the patient and on occasions providing statements to the police.
These turnaround times ARE NOT comparable to the handover times of other UK Ambulance Trusts.
Our local management teams are working closely with Health Boards to ensure that ambulances are released as quickly as possible.
- Response Documents
