FOI 26-042 Recruitment based on Neil Gray's November Statement

Freedom of Information Request

Reference

FOI 26-042 Recruitment based on Neil Gray's November Statement

Request Date

22 Jan 2026

Response Date

03 Mar 2026

Information Requested

Based on a statement made by Neil Gray in November 2025. 
 
How many additional ambulance staff dealing with patients have been recruited in November 2025? 
 
How many of these staff are “ fully trained “ for this winter ? 
 
How many are employed full time ? 
 
How many ambulance staff have retired prematurely in last 12 months or last 5 years ?  

Response

How many additional ambulance staff dealing with patients have been recruited in November 2025? 

There were 104 frontline recruited in November 2025.  This figure is inclusive of A&E, Patient Transport Services and Ambulance Control Centre staff. 

 

It should be noted the statement by Neil Gray included other staff in the Ambulance Control Centres and Integrated Clinical hub; however these were recruited before November 2025.  More information on this can be found on the Scottish Ambulance Service website - Scottish Ambulance Service recruits almost 100 new staff ahead of winter 

 How many of these staff are “ fully trained “ for this winter? 

The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold a single recorded figure identifying how many of the staff recruited in November 2025 were “fully trained” for the winter period. 

Training and competency requirements vary depending on role, staff group and clinical scope of practice, and staff may be operational while completing elements of supervised practice, local induction or role‑specific training. 

As a result, providing a definitive number of staff who were “fully trained” would require interpretation and the creation of new information, which the Service is not required to do under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. 

 

How many are employed full time? 

83 of the 104 staff recruited in November 2025 are employed full-time.  
How many ambulance staff have retired prematurely in last 12 months or last 5 years?  

The Scottish Ambulance Service can provide the following information based on records held at the time of the request.  It should be noted that the Scottish Ambulance Service operates within multiple NHS pension schemes, each with different normal pension ages and provisions, including the availability of partial retirement and retire‑and‑return options. 

For the purposes of answering this request, “premature retirement” has been defined as any recorded retirement where the individual was under the age of 65 at the point of retiral, regardless of retiral reason (including age‑related retirement, ill‑health retirement, voluntary early retirement or other recorded retirement reasons). 

Based on this definition: 

• A&E,AmbulanceCare Assistants and Ambulance Control Centre staff 
  – Last 12 months: 50 
  – Last 5 years: 149 

The Service cannot state with certainty whether individuals who retired early subsequently returned to work, as retire‑and‑return staff are re‑employed under a new employee/pay number. Identifying such cases would require bespoke manual analysis which would involve the creation of new information. This information is therefore not held.