The ambulance service today denied it is putting lives at risk by failing to staff its emergency vehicles with paramedics.
In Glasgow and Lanarkshire, around 80% of Rapid Response Vehicles are crewed by paramedics, with the remainder staffed by technicians.
Concerns have been raised over a call-out last March when a man collapsed at a wedding in Glasgow.
The heart attack victim was not attended to by a paramedic at the scene and later died.
The Scottish Ambulance Service said today an investigation had found the patient's treatment would have been no different had a paramedic been on board.
Technicians are highly skilled medical professionals, a spokesman said.
He said: "In a climate of ever increasing demand, it would be a disservice to the public to leave RRVs unused in the station when they can be operated by a technician who has all the skills to save lives.
"Better to have an ambulance technician respond in eight minutes in an RRV than leave the patient to wait longer for a paramedic."
The service said that it had trained around 700 paramedics over the last five years - "probably more than any other ambulance service in the UK".
In Glasgow and Lanarkshire, the number of RRVs crewed by paramedics is expected to rise to 100% by the end of the year as more staff complete paramedic training, the spokesman said.
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