A shocking video taken by ambulance staff shows more than a dozen ambulances queued up outside a Glasgow hospital waiting to hand over patients.
The frustrated ambulance worker shot the footage to show the reality crews are facing on arriving at the city's biggest hospital.
Ambulances can be seen idling outside the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where they face waits of up to five hours to drop off patients facing medical emergencies.
The worker, who asked not to be named, said crews are working long past their finishing times due to the backlog.
He explained: "It’s frustrating to say the least. Your heart sinks when you turn up and there are 15 plus ambulances waiting. It’s unpleasant for the patients as well because they’re sat in the ambulance for hours.
"We were waiting four and a half hours when the video was taken but some crews were over five hours.
"We’re frequently kept late due to waiting at the QEUH. Last night we were an hour and a half late. There were crews that were more than three hours late finishing and that was just from the Glasgow South station."
The stalemate is causing issues for crews heading to emergencies with reports of people having to wait up to six hours for an ambulance.
Scottish Ambulance Service has said that with 'sustained levels of high emergency demand' there are limited emergency ambulances to attend incidents. Ambulances that could potentially be responding are often stuck in the backlog at Glasgow hospitals.
The staff member told Glasgow Live: "There are a number of reasons I think as to why it’s happening - the care in the community is not there for safe discharges from hospital, meaning that A&E can’t transfer the patients to the wards which in turn means that we cannot hand over patients to A&E which ultimately leads to long waiting times for us and therefore the community waiting for us to arrive.
"There is a lack of staff in the hospital. Everyone in hospital works incredibly hard, but they just don’t have the staff, they’re exhausted. There is also a lack of beds throughout the hospital, both in the wards and in A&E.
"On top of that, the public is not taking responsibility for their own health. Attending A&E or calling 999 for a minor ailment/injury (people have called or attended for paper cuts or blisters for example) or because you can’t get through to the GP, is not acceptable and a lot of the time delays ambulances attending people who really need them."
A spokesperson for Scottish Ambulance Service said: "Hospital turnaround times continue to be a significant challenge across Scotland and are restricting the ability of our staff to get back out to help other patients.
"We’re working alongside health boards to try and help mitigate wait times through joint escalation plans and increasing alternative care pathways for ambulance clinicians to support patients in the community. Where we anticipate there may be a delay, we are focussing on ensuring that our staff get released from hospital departments as quickly as possible in order that they do not work longer in their shift than required.”
Dr Scott Davidson, Deputy Medical Director for Acute Services at NHSGGC, said: “While Covid-19 case numbers are reducing and restrictions continue to be eased, the pressures on all our services are still significant.
“Our hospitals are near capacity and while our staff are doing everything they can to care for the patients they are seeing, they continue to face significant challenges.
“Hopefully we will see an improvement soon, but in the meantime, we are asking the public to do all they can to support our staff and services. If you feel you or someone you know needs medical help, we would strongly urge that you do all you can to support our staff and services, by carefully considering all the options available to you.
“If you have a minor ailment, a community pharmacy will be able to help, and GPs are open and continue to offer a wide range of healthcare services. If you think you need urgent medical help, please contact your GP or call NHS24 on 111. These are the best places to access the care you need.
“Please do not come to A&E unless you are suffering from a very urgent or life-threatening condition.”
