FOI 26-099 Response Time Data
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-099 Response Time Data
- Request Date
- 24 Feb 2026
- Response Date
- 20 Mar 2026
- Information Requested
1) Of the people who called for an ambulance in Scotland in a) 2024-25 and b) month to date in 2025-26, how many waited (i) over 9 minutes, (ii) over 20 minutes , (iii) over 40 minutes, (iv) over 60 minutes, (v) over 80 minutes (vi) over 100 minutes, (vii) over 120 minutes, (viii) over 180 minutes , (ix) over 240 minutes, (x) over 300 minutes, (xi) over 360 minutes, (xii) over 420 minutes, (xiii) over 480 minutes, for an ambulance to arrive after the first initial 999 call.
2) What was the longest (number of minutes) any person who called for an ambulance in a) 2024-25 and b) month to date in 2025-26 waited to for the ambulance to arrive after the first initial 999 call.
3) Please tell me the (a) average and (b) longest waits for purple, red, amber, yellow and green calls for the ambulance service in (i) 2023 ii) 2024 (iii) 2025 and (iv) 2026 to date.
If records are kept in financial year equivalents, please specify the alternative timeframes used. For each of the longest waits recorded, please specify the location and incident type involved
- Response
Important information to consider when interpreting this data
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.
Please see the attached sheet detailing the following information:
Table 1 – data on the number of emergencies attended incidents, response time groupings by call colour for the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26 (01/04/2025 - 25/02/2026)
Table 2 – data on the emergency incidents attended and maximum response times by colour or the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26 (01/04/2025 - 25/02/2026)
Table 3 – data of the emergency incidents attended, the average response times, median response times and maximum response times by call colour for the calendar years 2023 – 2026* (*01/01/2026 - 25/02/2026).
Table 4 – details the maximum response time by calendar year with Health Board and call colour.
Table 5 – details the maximum response times by financial year with Health Board and call colour.
The longest response times recorded in this dataset relate to patients who were already within a hospital environment and were awaiting transfer to another hospital by emergency airlift. These cases involve complex inter‑hospital transfers rather than community 999 incidents. The patients were receiving ongoing clinical care while awaiting the specialist air resources required for their transfer, and therefore these times should not be interpreted as delays in reaching patients in the community.
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.
- Response Documents
