NICOLA Sturgeon today apologised  “unreservedly” for long ambulance waiting times, announcing that the military could be brought in to help with the backlog.

The First Minister was questioned about the death of Gerald Brown, 65, from Glasgow, who died after waiting for 40 hours for an ambulance, as the Herald exclusively revealed on Thursday.

She offered her condolences to the family of Mr Brown, but said the issues in the service would continue “for a period” as pressure caused by the pandemic continues and the winter months draw closer.

Ms Sturgeon said the waiting times for some patients were “not acceptable”.

READ MORE: Anger as Glasgow father-of-three dies after 40-hour wait for ambulance

She added: “I apologise unreservedly to anyone that has suffered or is suffering unacceptably long waits.

“A range of actions have already been taken to address these challenges, for example additional funding to support new recruitment.

“A number of additional actions are currently under active consideration and I’m happy to summarise these in further exchanges, but I can confirm now that this includes consideration of seeking targeted military assistance to help deal with short-term pressure points.

“Such military assistance is already being provided to ambulance services in England and of course we have had military assistance for other aspects of the pandemic over the past 18 months.”

Following on from the announcement, we want to know your experiences. 

Have you visited A&E recently? Have you used the Scottish Ambulance Service? Let us know your experiences via the sumbission form below.