A FIFE MSP has slammed the "concerning" wait times for ambulances in his constituency. 

Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, says the Scottish Government has failed patients in the Kingdom following the release of figures from the Scottish Ambulance Service.

These figures showed that at least 25 patients in Fife had to wait over four hours for an ambulance. The figure was among the worst health board outcomes provided in the data.

Mr Fraser said: “These statistics for Fife, which were released by the Scottish Ambulance Service, are very concerning indeed. One patient having to wait more than four hours is bad enough but at least 25 shows this issue needs looked at urgently.

“Our ambulance crews are doing their best and working under severe pressure, with more funding needed to help our ailing health service under this SNP Government.

“This latest data shows our ambulance service is strained and could do with more resources, but as so often happens the SNP Government are more focused on breaking up the United Kingdom and spending time on a non-sensical Hate Crime Act, which will ironically be launched on April Fools’ Day.”

In response, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Patient safety is our top priority. The Scottish Ambulance Service continues to maintain a fast response to our most critically unwell patients.

"Despite increased levels of high priority calls, and the unique geographical challenges posed in some of Scotland’s most rural areas, crews across Scotland responded to the highest priority calls two weeks ago in a median time of 7 minutes 17 seconds.

"The Scottish Ambulance Service continue to divert cases away from A&E by safely triaging patients within their community wherever possible.

"Through our Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative Programme, Scotland’s Health Boards are taking action to improve patient flow and reduce delays by improving urgent care pathways in the community and optimising the use of early and effective triage, rapid decision-making and streaming to assessment areas.

“We are also working with Health Boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service to implement new ‘Handover Principles’, to help ensure the safe and timeous handover of patients at hospital, which will free up more ambulances quicker.”