Man dies in Aberdeen following ambulance IT system error
He was suffering from a heart attack and couldn't be saved
An urgent review's been ordered by Health Secretary Shona Robison - after a man died in Aberdeen after a control room mistake meant an ambulance hadn't been sent.
It looks like an IT problem at the local centre meant 999 calls were taken in the central belt instead - but the information wasn't passed to drivers immediately.
In the end it was more than half an hour before an ambulance arrived to help the man who'd had a heart attack, but it was too late to save him.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 2:46am on Friday 19 May to attend an address in Aberdeen and arrived at 3:19am.
"CPR advice was provided by our call handler.
“The response time is longer than we would expect, and the incident was reported by the ACC staff involved.
“We are currently undertaking a full investigation of the events. Initial findings indicate that the circumstances around this incident were extremely unusual.
“We have contacted the patient’s family to offer our sincere condolences and to hear their recollection of the response as part of our investigation.
“We will share our findings with the patient’s family and address any recommendations.”
Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health, said: “I am deeply concerned to hear about this tragic incident and my thoughts are with the family and those affected.
"I have spoken directly to the Chief Executive of the Ambulance Service to ensure that a full and urgent review of this case is undertaken, and made clear that its findings must be acted upon."