FOI26-355 Single Crewed Vehicles, North Region
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI26-355 Single Crewed Vehicles, North Region
- Request Date
- 10 Aug 2026
- Response Date
- 07 Sep 2026
- Information Requested
I am seeking recorded information concerning A&E ambulance crewing within the Scottish Ambulance Service North Region, with particular interest in identifying geographical differences between urban centres and remote/rural ambulance stations.
Time period
Please provide the information for each financial year from 2021/22 to 2025/26, with 2025/26 being the complete financial year ending 31 March 2026.
- Single-crewed A&E ambulance shifts
Please provide the number of A&E ambulance shifts which were single crewed, broken down by:
- financial year;
- month; and
- ambulance station/base or the smallest operational geographical unit at which this information is held.
If station-level information cannot be provided, please provide it at the next smallest geographical level held and explain what geographical unit has been used.
- A&E ambulancesoperatingwithout a paramedic
For the same period and geographical breakdown, please provide the number of A&E ambulance shifts which were crewed without an HCPC-registered paramedic forming part of the ambulance crew.
This should include double-crewed ambulances where neither crew member was a registered paramedic, for example Technician/Technician or other non-paramedic crew combinations.
Where recorded, please break these figures down by crew skill mix, for example:
- Technician + Technician;
- Technician + other non-paramedic grade;
- other crew combinations without a paramedic.
- Duration
For Questions 1 and 2, where held, please provide:
- the total number of affected shifts; and
- the total number of operational hours during which A&E ambulance resources were single crewed or operated without a paramedic.
This is requested because the number of affected shifts alone may not demonstrate the duration of reduced crewing or skill mix.
- Reason for reduced crewing/skill mix
Where recorded electronically, please provide the reason or reason code associated with each occurrence, or aggregate numbers for each reason category if individual occurrence data cannot be provided.
I am particularly interested in occurrences associated with:
- inability to obtain paramedic cover;
- paramedic vacancy;
- sickness/absence;
- inability to obtain overtime/bank/relief cover;
- recruitment difficulties;
- training or abstraction;
- deliberate alteration/deviation from normal skill mix;
- other staffing shortages.
Please provide the categories actually used by SAS rather than creating new categories specifically for this request.
- Remote/rural recruitment and skill-mix exceptions
Please provide copies of any existing reports, dashboards, exception reports, briefing papers or other recorded management information, from 2021/22 to 2025/26, which identify individual North Region stations, localities or operational areas where:
- paramedic vacancies have resulted in difficulty maintaining normal A&E ambulance skill mix;
- recruitment or retention difficulties have affected paramedic availability;
- ambulances have operated without a paramedic;
- single crewing has resulted from inability to maintain the required skill mix;
- SAS has considered or implemented deviation from its normal crew skill mix/model because of recruitment or staffing difficulties.
This includes recorded information relating to remote and rural locations.
- Existing station/locality-level datasets
SAS has previously released data concerning single-crewed shifts at regional level.
Please confirm whether the underlying data used to produce those regional figures contains a station, base, resource, locality, operational area or other geographical identifier.
If so, please provide the relevant data for North Region at the lowest geographical level recorded.
Similarly, if SAS holds data used to monitor A&E crew skill mix or occasions when no paramedic forms part of a crew, please provide that information at the lowest geographical level recorded.
- Reports to senior management, the SAS Board or Scottish Government
Please provide copies of any reports, dashboards or data supplied during the above period to:
- SAS senior management;
- the SAS Board or its committees; or
- the Scottish Government
which provide geographical information below North Region level concerning:
- single crewing;
- absence of a paramedic from A&E ambulance crews;
- failure to maintain planned/normal A&E skill mix;
- paramedic vacancies or shortages affecting operational ambulance cover.
- Response
Q1 - Please see the attached sheet that provides the data requested by financial year, broken down by Scottish Ambulance Service regions and Scotland as a whole, showing the number of single‑crewed shifts, total number of shifts, and the percentage of shifts that were single‑crewed. The data covers the period 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2026 to 28 February 2026.
Please note that the data relates to single‑crewed shifts and not the number of ambulances. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not routinely roster staff to work alone in a double‑crewed vehicle. Every effort is made to double‑crew shifts; however, there are occasions where shifts may be single‑crewed due to short‑notice or unplanned staff absence where alternative staffing cannot be arranged. In such situations, staff are tasked appropriately and supported as required.
This information is not held at a lower level that Region.
Q2 - The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold the information requested.
While operational and workforce systems contain information relating to staff and resources, they do not record or report occasions where an A&E ambulance operated without an HCPC-registered paramedic, nor do they record the crew skill-mix categories requested.
In order to provide this information, SAS would need to analyse data from multiple systems, make assumptions about crew composition throughout shifts and apply complex skill and judgement to determine whether a paramedic was present at any given time. This would result in the creation of new information rather than the retrieval of recorded information already held.
It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
Q3 – The attached sheet details the total number of affected shifts in response to Question 1.
However, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold recorded information showing the total number of operational hours during which A&E ambulance resources operated without a paramedic.
As set out in our response to Question 2, the Service does not maintain a dataset identifying these occurrences and therefore cannot determine the duration of such events from existing records.
It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.
Q4 - SAS does not hold recorded reasons or reason codes for each occurrence of reduced crewing or skill mix, or aggregate figures by reason category.
Providing this information would require SAS to review each individual occurrence and apply complex skill and judgement to determine the reason. This would involve creating new information specifically for this request, which SAS is not required to do under FOISA.
Accordingly, in terms of section 17 of FOISA, the requested information is not held.
Q5 - The Scottish Ambulance Service has not identified any reports, dashboards, exception reports, briefing papers or other recorded management information that:
- identifies where paramedic vacancies resulted in difficulty maintaining normal ambulance crew skill mix;
- identifies where recruitment or retention difficulties affected paramedic availability;
- identifies ambulances operating without a paramedic as a consequence of recruitment or retention difficulties;
- identifies single-crewed ambulance activity as being attributable to recruitment or staffing difficulties; or
- records consideration or implementation of alternative crew skill mix arrangements due to recruitment or staffing difficulties.
While the Service holds workforce, recruitment, rostering and operational staffing information, it does not routinely record or report these matters by reference to recruitment or retention difficulties. Establishing such links would require analysis of multiple records and the application of judgement.
Q6 – The Scottish Ambulance Service has previously published data relating to single-crewed A&E ambulance shifts at regional level. However, the underlying data used to produce those reports was collated and reported only at Regional level and did not include station, base, resource, locality, operational area or other geographical identifiers that would allow reporting below Regional level.
Accordingly, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold the requested single-crewing information for North Region at a lower geographical level.
The Scottish Ambulance Service also does not hold a dataset used to monitor A&E crew skill mix or occasions where no HCPC-registered paramedic formed part of an ambulance crew. To determine this information would require analysis of data from multiple systems, the application of complex skill and judgement, and the creation of new information. Accordingly, under section 17(1) of FOISA, this information is not held.
Q7 - We have reviewed the relevant reports and meeting records held for the period specified.
Information concerning single crewing, staffing vacancies, sickness absence, skill mix and operational coverage is reported at an overall North Region level. Although some reports contain narrative references to particular locations or operational circumstances, we have not identified any reports, dashboards or data supplied to SAS senior management, the SAS Board or its committees, or the Scottish Government which provide the requested information broken down geographically below North Region level.
It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held.
However, by way of advice and assistance under section 15 of FOISA, the Scottish Ambulance Service publishes an annual report on its compliance with the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019. The report contains broader information about the Service’s approach to appropriate staffing, workforce planning, staffing pressures, vacancies, sickness absence, operational coverage and staff mix. It does not provide the specific information requested at a geographical level below North Region but may be of relevance to your request.
The 2025/26 annual report is available here: Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 Annual report 2025/26
- Response Documents
