NHS Grampian apologise following flight mix-up with patient transfer
Maternity patient reaches hospital almost seven hours after air ambulance is set out.
Last updated 24th Mar 2017
NHS Grampian has apologised "unreservedly" following confusion in taking a patient from Orkney to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital.
The air ambulance was sent out just before 10pm on the 17th of March to pick up the patient, but instead of heading to Orkney, was dispatched to Shetland instead.
They eventually realised their error and arrived at Kirkwall at 01:45 the following day, making it safely to Aberdeen Maternity Hospital at 04:45 - almost seven hours after the team and equipment had flown out on their journey.
NHS Grampian says that they have written to the family to invite them for a meeting to discuss the circumstances behind the confusion.
In a statement they say, "NHS Grampian would like to apologise unreservedly to the family involved in this incident. This led to the Scottish Ambulance Service aircraft wrongly travelling to Shetland"
"We must stress that this is an extremely unusual incident. We have seen nothing to suggest this was anything other than an isolated mistake"
"We are continuing to investigate further and co-operating with the Scottish Ambulance Service"