Shock new figures have revealed patients in life-threatening cases are facing soaring waits for an ambulance.
Response times for so-called purple calls are taking longer than the eight minute target in most council areas.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Anyone can see that this is likely to be one of the hardest winters the NHS has ever faced. Staff are already overwhelmed and patients are already suffering.
“The Scottish Government have continuously ignored the warnings of ambulance staff.”
The Daily Record has led a campaign exposing the harrowing waits experiences by patients who desperately need an ambulance.
Figures now reveal the shocking delays in large swathes of Scotland, with the stats mapping out wait times over the past three years.
They show the average wait times for purple calls - the highest priority - breached the 8-minute target in 25 of 32 local authorities in 2021/22.
53% of patients in the purple category are experiencing cardiac arrest.
The highest average waiting time for purple calls was in the Borders, where patients waited an average of 12 minutes and 46 seconds.
Patients in Aberdeenshire, Shetland, the Western Isles and Angus also averaged over 12 minutes.
The national average in 2019/2020 was seven minutes and 34 seconds, but the figure rose to eight minutes and fifty two seconds in 2021/22.
We revealed recenty how a woman who collapsed with a suspected heart attack said she had to wait five hours in the back of an ambulance before being seen at A+E.
Roseanna Clarkin, 39, told the Record: “We couldn’t even get parked near A&E because there were another 16 ambulances waiting there with patients already.”
Cole-Hamilton blasted: “People in life-threatening situations need to know that someone will be there to help them when they need it.
“Tragically and despite the best efforts of hard-pressed paramedics, all across Scotland, this is simply not happening.
“It is unforgivable that the Scottish Government continues to roll out the tired excuse of Covid. Even the former Chief Executive of NHS Scotland Paul Gray has said that a pressure cooker crisis was coming regardless of the pandemic.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The crisis in our ambulance service is only getting worse, despite the efforts of the hardworking staff.
“It is truly terrifying that targets are being failed even in the most critical life or death situations.
“The SNP promise time and time again that they will get a grip on the NHS, but things are only getting worse under their watch.
“We cannot let this chaos continue. We need a plan to get our vital services back to the highest standard before SNP incompetence costs any more lives.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Patient safety remains our priority and we apologise to anyone who has experienced a long wait.
“Despite a rise in demand for higher acuity calls, the ambulance service responded to over 68% of their highest priority calls in under ten minutes and over 99% in under 30 minutes in 2021/22.”
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