PATIENT safety is being put at risk because ambulance crews are not being given time to carry safety checks on vehicles and drug supplies, union leaders have warned.

Senior paramedics say the service is “on its knees” due to years of chronic staff shortages and the centralisation of services including the opening of Glasgow’s new super-hospital which led to two A&E units shutting.

The Evening Times told last week how crews were being denied time to carry out Vehicle Daily Inspections (VDIs) because of pressure to attend call-outs as soon as their shift begins.

The Scottish Ambulance Service responded saying crews would be allowed time for checks, “as soon as possible.”

However paramedics say this can be seven or eight hours into a shift. One employee said he has been despatched to 999 calls after alerting control rooms staff to vehicle faults and drug shortages.

He said: “We will continue to be allocated to emergency calls (with control staff being informed of shortages and vehicle faults) simply because of the demand on the service and in a desperate attempt to meet failing government targets.

“The suggestion that vehicles are checked every six weeks and maintained regularly is nothing but lies.

“Last week myself and my colleague dispatched to a 999 call with NO paramedic drugs ( nothing new ).

“The service is on its knees and many staff are now looking at other employment or early retirement.”

Jamie McNamee, National Convenor for Unite the union, and a paramedic in Glasgow with more than 30 years experience said: “Is it the case that patient safety is being compromised? There is no question of that.

“ I’m going out and I don’t know what’s in my ambulance.

“There is actually a standard which states that we should get 30 minutes to carry out checks.

“It happens day in day out and the problem is worse in densely populated areas.

“Some of is is caused by the Scottish Ambulance Service being the default position for people who are in need of help.

“What it boils down to is the centralisation of services is crippling the ambulance service.The new hospital (In Glasgow) is doing a great job but no one has measured the impact of that on the ambulance service.

“In Glasgow we went from four A&E services to two.

“If you go down now you will find a queue of 10 ambulances waiting to triage patients.

“The staff are working their socks off. It’s an absolute nightmare. It’s the patients who will be suffering here.

“There is a pilot to give crews protected time to carry out checks but that delays the emergency response.

“If you go back to October 2015, there was an announcement about 1000 new paramedics. But it takes a lot of time to get 1000 paramedics trained.

“We have been suffering years of chronic staff shortages and we need more ambulances but we are making great strides.

“That doesn’t exclude the fact there are clear patient safety issues.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We have been trialling a pilot in recent months to give staff protected time to carry out these checks and this pilot will be evaluated for roll out throughout the Service this year.”