AN Ayrshire-based ambulance service worker has warned “lives are going to be put massively at risk” by planned changes to nightshift rotas across the region.

Proposals to reduce the number of crews working per night from the Kilmarnock depot, from four down to just one, are set to be introduced within the next few months.

The controversial plans, which could be replicated nationwide, have been drawn up by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) as part of a ‘Demand and Capacity Review’ carried out by external companies.

Data produced from the review apparently reveals a higher demand for staff during daytime, meaning nightshift crews will have their working week broken up into more and shorter shifts – with less cover over the early hours of the morning.

One member of staff told the Chronicle that colleagues have yet to see the findings to justify the decision, and raised concerns over the potential impact on SAS personnel and patients across Ayrshire.

They said: “We’ve asked them for the data which this review is based on but they’ve never come forward with that.

“They’re wanting multiple day shifts starting at staggered times and there will only be one vehicle on the rota from midnight.

“They say the workload is not there at nighttime and we don’t need that many vehicles. At the moment we’re on 12-hour nightshifts, no staggered starts, we all start at 7pm or 7.30pm and we don’t see each other all night – and it’s not because we’re sitting in the station playing pool.

“So I don’t know where they’re getting this from.

“Folk’s families and lives are going to be put massively at risk.”

Similar changes have been put forward at stations in Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock – and the Ayrshire staff member said the plans would only serve to heap more pressure on already burnt-out crews.

They said: “Instead of doing four 12-hour shifts, I’ll be doing five or six shorter shifts a week, so it’s more wear and tear, more travel, less downtime, less days off and annual leave.

“Ultimately for patients in Ayrshire and Scotland-wide it’s going to mean less cover at nighttime.

“All it’s doing is adding more stress on to staff when we’re already short-staffed, we’re over-stretched, as we have been for years.

“Our family time is going to take a hit because somebody is trying to penny pinch.”

The worker added: “On a 12-hour shift before Covid kicked off, we would see about 10 patients a night. We’re lucky if we’re averaging three now. And that’s one crew.

“All that time people are still phoning in, NHS 24 are referring folk to us, 999 calls, doctors are wanting patients in for stuff that we can’t get to, so all it does is pile up.

“It’s not that we don’t want to go to them, we can’t go to them. Crews are being run ragged, fatigued, not looked after and then they drop this bombshell.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson branded suggestions of cuts in services as “completely inaccurate” – and claimed two new locations will be introduced at Ardrossan and Dreghorn to “better serve the Ayrshire community”.

The spokesperson told the Chronicle: “There are no cuts to staffing in Ayrshire, or the west region as a whole.

“Any proposed changes around shift rosters are to ensure that we increase ambulance availability at identified times where demand is highest, to reduce delays to patients and to minimise staff fatigue.”