FOI 26-326 Suspected Spiking Cases
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-326 Suspected Spiking Cases
- Request Date
- 22 Jul 2026
- Response Date
- 04 Aug 2026
- Information Requested
1. The number of ambulance callouts in Scotland involving suspected spiking incidents affecting women for each of the last ten calendar years (2014–2024 inclusive). Please provide the data broken down by year. For clarity, I am referring to callouts where the attending crew recorded or suspected: drink‑spiking, needle‑spiking, or any incident coded or noted as a potential spiking‑related event. If available, please also provide: 2. Any breakdown showing: drink‑spiking vs needle‑spiking whether the incident was recorded as suspected or confirmed the number of callouts that resulted in conveyance to hospital
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service records and responds to incidents primarily on the basis of the patient's presenting condition, chief complaint and operational dispatch information. We do not hold a dataset that would identify incidents by the cause of condition.
The Service does not hold a category, code or report that would identify incidents involving suspected spiking incidents. Nor do we hold recorded information that would allow us to identify whether a complication was suspected or confirmed, or whether it related to particular spiking incidents.
In order to provide the information requested, the Service would be required to manually review individual incident records and associated free-text clinical notes over the relevant period to determine whether a spiking incident has been recorded. This would require the application of professional judgement to interpret the circumstances recorded within each case and would effectively result in the creation of new information rather than the retrieval of recorded information already held.
As the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold the requested information in a recorded and retrievable form, this information is exempt under section 17(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, as information not held.
