FOI 26-014 Turnaround Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-014 Turnaround Times
- Request Date
- 06 Jan 2026
- Response Date
- 23 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
- Please reveal the longest period an ambulance with a patient inside waited outside a hospital in 2025 in each health board.
In other words, how long SAS staff in charge of a patient’s care had to wait outside the hospital building before being able to hand over care to the hospital.
Please provide the longest period on record in each health board in 2025.
2. If it’s possible to provide all of this information then please do the same for 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
3. Please confirm if the SAS has a target time for hospital handover completion and if so it is.
4. The longest hospital handover in 2025 that occurred between the Scottish Ambulance and Service and the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.- Is there anyway SAS workers could report an instance where they felt they had to wait with a patient for a concerning or worrying amount of time outside the hospital?
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a recorded measure of time spent outside hospitals with a patient awaiting handover. What is recorded is ambulance turnaround time, defined as the total time from when an ambulance arrives at hospital until the crew departs/marks clear. This total includes several components (for example, clinical handover, returning equipment, and vehicle cleaning). Because of those components, turnaround time is not directly comparable to “handover” measures published by some other UK ambulance trusts, which may report only the time from arrival to handover acceptance.
These turnaround times ARE NOT comparable to the handover times of other UK Ambulance Trusts.
Q1-4
Please see the attached excel spreadsheet detailing the Turnaround times for each key hospital for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. For each hospital and each year, we have detailed the total number of conveyances, the median1 turnaround time, the 90th percentilei turnaround time and the maximum turnaround time.
The Scottish Ambulance Service works to nationally agreed ‘Safe Transfer to Hospital’ principles. The target is that all patients are handed over within 60 minutes, and the longer‑term aim is a 15‑minute handover (from arrival to triage).
Our local management teams are working closely with Health Boards to ensure that ambulances are released as quickly as possible.
- Is there anyway SAS workers could report an instance where they felt they had to wait with a patient for a concerning or worrying amount of time outside the hospital?
The Scottish Ambulance Service crews can report Delays in Hospital Handover on an internal system where they feel they have waited outside A&E departments for a concerning amount of time. In 2025, there were a total of 43 reported instances from staff regarding delayed handover times throughout Scotland.
More information about Turnaround or a list of which hospitals have been included can be found on our website - Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics
- Response Documents
