MSP questions number of alcohol related emergencies

HIGHLANDS and Islands list MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has questioned why Shetland had six times the amount of alcohol related emergency incidents than Orkney last year.

Figures sourced through a Scottish Conservatives freedom of information request revealed that ambulance crews attended 25 alcohol related incidents in Shetland in 2017, while Orkney experienced only four.

Shetland’s figure, however, was more than half the number of incidents recorded in 2015.

The Scottish Ambulance Service stressed that the “incidents aren’t necessarily directly linked to alcohol but where alcohol been recorded by the crew under additional factors.”

Halcro Johnston has now called for more information as to why there was such a disparity between Shetland and Orkney.

In 2016, meanwhile, there were 34 alcohol related incidents in Shetland and just six in Orkney.

“While it is good news that the number of alcohol related emergencies in Shetland is coming down, I am concerned that the differences in the figures between the Northern Isles are so stark,” Halcro Johnston said.

“With figures in Shetland over six times higher than in Orkney, I will be questioning the Scottish Government on why these differences are occurring as I am concerned that the level of alcohol related incidents risks taking crews away from other more serious incidents on the isles.

“It is also imperative that the SNP government ensures that our ambulance crews in the Northern Isles are sufficiently resourced, not only to deal with alcohol related emergencies but incidents all year round.”