FOI 26-236 Orkney Response Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-236 Orkney Response Times
- Request Date
- 19 May 2026
- Response Date
- 18 Jun 2026
- Information Requested
1) In each of the last 12 months, what was the longest ambulance response time* for a purple category incident in Orkney? Please also provide the shortest response time and the average response time for each of these months.
2)In each of the last 12 months, what was the longest ambulance response time* for a red category incident in Orkney? Please also provide the shortest response time and the average response time for each of these months.
3) In each of the last 12 months, what was the longest ambulance response time* for an amber category incident in Orkney? Please also provide the shortest response time and the average response time for each of these months.
4) In each of the last 12 months, what was the longest ambulance response time* for a yellow category incident in Orkney? Please also provide the shortest response time and the average response time for each of these months. *I note that your weekly statistics provide the 90th percentile. To be clear, I would like you to provide the longest response time in your response, not the 90th percentile.
5) In the last 24 months, in Orkney, in how many incidents has the on duty ambulance crew been unable to immediately respond, because they are on another call-out? Could you please break this down by colour code.
6) In the last 24 months, have any of your staff, other medical staff, or patients, flagged to you issues regarding the system for updating call handling staff on the availability of the land ambulance in Orkney? E.g. a call-out has ended and crew are back at base, but call handlers are still telling further members of the public calling 999 that the ambulance is unavailable.
7) If the answer is "yes" to the above question, how frequently have concerns such as these been raised, and what has been done to resolve such issues
- Response
Please see the attached sheet detailing the information requested in Q1 –Q4 for all attended emergency incidents on Orkney for the last 12 months.
Please note caution when interpreting this data
The data provided excludes air ambulance responses.
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 but greater that zero. 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.
Q5 - The Scottish Ambulance Service operates a national clinical response model under which all 999 calls are triaged and prioritised according to clinical need. Resources are deployed based on patient acuity and service demand, and not all incidents require an immediate ambulance response.
Although the Service records call prioritisation and deployment information, it does not hold a specific record of incidents where an on-duty crew in Orkney was unable to respond immediately because it was already attending another call, nor is this recorded in a way that allows a reliable breakdown by colour code.
It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
Q6 - Staff can raise concerns through incident reporting systems or directly with managers. These are not categorised in a way that would allow extraction of all relevant cases matching the precise scenario described without a manual review of individual records; this would require complex skill and judgement and the creation of a new dataset. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
Q7 – As detailed above, it would take complex skill and judgement to identify the number of incidents described in your request and therefore do not hold recorded information that would allow us to quantify how frequently concerns of this nature have been raised. As no recorded information is held we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.
The Service’s model of care includes structured call triage and clinical prioritisation, including the use of telephone clinical assessment for certain calls where appropriate. This approach is designed to ensure that patients receive the most suitable response based on their clinical need and that available resources are used effectively.
Additionally, operational developments continue to be implemented to improve resilience and dispatch processes in remote and island communities, including locally tailored response models. By way of additional context, the Scottish Ambulance Service has recently approved additional resource to support service resilience in Orkney, including a newly funded Ambulance Technician post at Kirkwall Ambulance Station. This is intended to enhance local resilience and support the delivery of safe and effective care to patients across the island community.
- Response Documents
