A UNION has warned that extra support for ambulances will "not be enough" following the health secretary's announcement of more investment into the service.

Unite the union issued a response to today's announcement saying that the extra investment and resources are welcome but fear they may not be enough.

Humza Yousaf MSP today revealed there would be an extra £20m for the Scottish Ambulance Service which is in addition to funding announced earlier this month.

But Unite warned that the existing pressures mean assistance from the army and Scottish Fire and Rescue will not plug the gap and have raised concerns additional drivers are not medically trained

READ MORE: Firefighters to provide emergency aid to struggling Scottish Ambulance Service

While some recruitment is taking place, the union argued that this is not designed to deal with the demands associated with the coronavirus pandemic.

We reported earlier this month that Unite called for a ‘major incident’ status to be declared at all hospitals with Accident and Emergency Units, where turnaround times exceed 30 minutes.  The demand was made by Unite to protect the public who have made 999 calls in the community, amid patient safety concerns due to 6 hours service running times.  

Jamie McNamee, Unite Convenor at the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: “The announcement by the Health Secretary is welcome and there is progress on a number of fronts including extra investment, extra call handlers, and support from the Army, and Fire and Rescue services, which Unite urgently requested. However, the reality is that it has been a delayed response, and far more should have been done earlier.”

“Unite has been warning of the unprecedented pressures building up within our ambulance service, and inside and outside our hospitals. We demanded that immediate consideration be given to drafting in medically and emergency trained personnel and facilities in our armed services to help.”

READ MORE: Unite the Union calls for Scottish Ambulance Service to declare 'major incident'

“What’s concerning is that the Minister seems to believe providing more ambulance drivers is the solution, but not all these drivers will be medically trained or trained for emergency situations. If the Minister is also seriously suggesting that we can simply free-up space inside our hospitals, then it begs the question as to why wasn’t this done before?”

“The outstanding issues therefore remain over a lack of capacity in terms of space inside hospitals, shortage of beds and insufficient levels of staff. It’s now being estimated that 1,000 extra acute beds are needed to help alleviate the pressures in hospital emergency departments.”

“We repeat our warning that if this is to work, then it must include field hospitals and other temporary admission units. This is absolutely essential in our view or we fear the existing problems will simply get worse. The announcement provides insignificant clarity on all these concerns, and winter is coming.”