Ambulance teams in Glasgow would need over 600 more staff to reach targets, according to a paramedic.

James McNamee, a union leader and paramedic, has told of the pressures being placed on ambulance staff.

He said that an increased demand and ‘limited’ staff options are making the situation increasingly difficult.

This comes after a Glasgow man, Robert Comrie, was left in the street for almost three hours this week after breaking his femur.

Mr McNamee, national convenor for Unite the Union, added: “The major issue is clearly capacity- we have had a report which states we need to consider a redesign of response model.

“More importantly they have reported that we need over 600 staff to help achieve our targets.

“We have seen increased demand of the most serious of patient conditions, we have issues in securing recruits and training places for recruits, centralisation of services are still hitting hard.

Triage, or the assignment of degree of urgency to wounds or illness, is used by Scottish Ambulance Service to prioritise patients.

This contributes to Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) being identified as the ‘leanest’ in the UK in terms of costs, but means some, like Mr Comrie, could be left waiting for care for hours.

A spokesman for SAS said: “We do not recognise these figures. We work tirelessly to ensure we have the right numbers of staff.

“We are recruiting 1,000 more paramedics up to 2021 and will continue to develop and grow our workforce."