Figures showing ambulances are being forced to wait for hours outside hospitals are “deeply worrying”, Scottish Labour has said.
The party highlighted freedom of information data on ambulance turnaround times outside hospitals in 2026, showing the longest wait was 18 hours.
Waits of 17 hours and 14 hours were also recorded.
We continue to experience significant pressure on our services due to lengthy hospital turnaround times at a number of hospital sites across Scotland
The party said that every major hospital in Scotland has already had at least one turnaround time of over an hour this year and eight hospitals experienced turnaround times of over 12 hours.
The data measured how long an ambulance spends at a hospital before being deployed again, with waits sometimes caused because of a lack of hospital beds available.
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “These deeply worrying figures show patients are being let down on the SNP’s watch.
“While patients are waiting for help, ambulances are stuck outside hospitals for hours on end.
“These long waits are a sign of the dangerous amount of pressure on our overstretched hospitals.
“We need action to support hospitals and give patients the ambulance service they deserve – tackling delayed discharge to free up beds, fixing the crisis in A&E and properly supporting hardworking NHS staff.”
A&E departments continue to experience significant pressure, this is not unique to Scotland with other UK nations facing similar demands
A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: “We continue to experience significant pressure on our services due to lengthy hospital turnaround times at a number of hospital sites across Scotland.
“These waits prevent our crews from getting back out on the road to treat other patients, and we are working closely with health boards to support their efforts to improve the situation.”
Health Secretary Angela Constance said: “A&E departments continue to experience significant pressure, this is not unique to Scotland with other UK nations facing similar demands.
“However, I am clear that it is unacceptable for patients to be waiting too long to receive the care they need and that is why in the first 100 days of Government we will be bringing forward a new national plan for hospital flow.
“This will see us bring together the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) and health boards to build on the important work already being done to reduce waits for patients, reduce people going to hospital unnecessarily and ease A&E pressures.
“For example, we’ve already introduced new frailty units for every A&E department and we’ve increased the number of paramedics in Scotland to a record high.”