Lives put at risk by 11,000 prank ambulance calls in a decade, Lib Dems warn

Lives are being put at risk by prank calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service, Alex Cole-Hamilton has warned after figures revealed more than 11,000 were made over the past decade.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader said the statistics, released by his party after a freedom of information request, come while NHS staff are already “stretched to their limits”.

The data, provided by the SAS, shows staff have had to deal with 11,353 hoax calls since 2014.

Since 2020, staff have spent more than 1,600 hours handling prank calls.

However, the figures also show the number of malicious calls has significantly decreased in recent years, along with the time staff spend dealing with them.

In 2014, the SAS reported 1,476 prank calls, which rose to 1,820 in 2017 before dropping to 503 in 2024.

Since 2020, the amount of time staff spend on such calls has decreased from 19,916 minutes to 1,113 last year.

Data from 2014 to 2019 for staff time was not provided by the SAS.

Cole-Hamilton said: “Every call-handler tied up in dealing with a malicious call is one who is unable to help save a life elsewhere.

“Across the NHS, staff are stretched to their limit. They simply cannot afford to deal with time-wasters who are endangering the lives of others.

“The Scottish Government must educate the public about the consequences of wasting call-handlers’ time.

“They must also ensure that the ambulance service has the resources and capacity it needs to attend call-outs as quickly as possible.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray condemned hoax calls to the ambulance service.

“While this data appears to show a significant downward trend in the number of hoax or malicious calls, one hoax call is one too many,” he said.

“We strongly condemn these calls to our emergency services. They are not victimless pranks and can potentially distract and divert vital resources and attention away from people who are in life-threatening situations.”

The SAS have been approached for comment.