Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-06158

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on ambulances attending emergencies without shift paramedics having carried out stock checks on the vehicles’ supplies.

Question reference: S5W-06161

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 1,000 new paramedics posts that it announced in October 2015 have been filled.

Question reference: S5W-06163

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many ambulance journeys have been made in each year since 2010 where it has been known that the vehicle had not been inspected to ensure that it was (a) mechanically safe and (b) stocked with the full supply of paramedic drugs, material or equipment.

All ambulance vehicles undergo rigorous maintenance checks above the manufacturer's guidance. There are also standard operating procedures in place to ensure the required drugs, consumables and equipment is available for all ambulance staff. In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service has a process in place in which all ambulance staff are expected to complete a Vehicle and Equipment Check sheet before the start of their shift. This would include ensuring their kit bag is fully equipped. The Service is currently running a pilot in Edinburgh whereby the first 15 minutes of each shift would be used to ensure the Vehicle and Equipment Check sheet is completed fully.

The information requested is not held centrally as this is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Question reference: S5W-06159

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that ambulances attending emergencies are (a) mechanically safe and (b) stocked with the full supply of paramedic drugs, material or equipment.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has a process in place in which all ambulance staff are expected to complete a Vehicle and Equipment Check sheet before the start of their shift. This would include ensuring their kit bag is fully equipped. The Service is currently running a pilot in Edinburgh whereby the first 15 minutes of each shift would be used to ensure the Vehicle and Equipment Check sheet is completed fully.

Question reference: S5W-06155

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average time to discharge a patient from an ambulance on arrival at A&E in each Scottish Ambulance Service regional operational division has been in each year since 2011.

Question reference: S5W-06157

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the Scottish Ambulance Service maintains and checks its fleet every six weeks.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is required to comply with all relevant road traffic legislation including the need to ensure that its vehicles are mechanically safe.

The Service operates a fleet of over 1,459 vehicles which are maintained through a network of 15 vehicle maintenance facilities across Scotland, as well as a Police Scotland workshop and remote island providers. All vehicles receive an MOT, servicing and safety checks following predetermined schedules reflecting legislative requirements and the most stringent safety inspection regimes as recommended by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency Guide to Maintaining Road Worthiness. Safety checks are carried out on A&E and emergency response vehicles every eight weeks as per industry best practice. Other operational vehicles have safety inspection intervals appropriate to their use.

Question reference: S5W-06162

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many paramedics have been employed by each Scottish Ambulance Service regional operational division in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-05508

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 31 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients admitted into acute assessment units are counted as admissions.

Patients accessing these units will have been assessed by a senior clinician, either GP or hospital doctor, before being referred to the unit.

These units carry out a wide range of clinical tests and observations, with clinical decisions being taken throughout the pathway of care. For example, for some patients it will be clear from the start that they will require admission to a downstream inpatient bed, while for others it will be clear that they will require admitted to the unit for a short time for ambulatory assessment care before returning home, for other patients’ clinical decisions on admission to an downstream inpatient bed would follow observation and tests.

Under the current statistical definitions patients in these units can be categorised as inpatients, outpatients and ward attenders. Clinicians and data analysts are considering the improvements that need to be made to existing definitions and their application. They will report to the Unscheduled Care Advisory board and Sir Harry Burns’ national review of targets and indicators if required.

Question reference: S5F-00844

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 February 2017

To ask the First Minister how many refugees the Scottish Government expects to welcome in 2017.

Question reference: S5W-06150

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 6 December 2016, NHS staffing at new record high, how many of the 11,500 additional staff are whole-time equivalent.

Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) information provides a better indicator of total labour input than a simple headcount. It is useful to support workforce planning and therefore continues to be in demand.

All staffing levels quoted in the Scottish Government press release of 6 December 2016, “NHS staffing at new record high” are expressed as WTE.

Under this Government, the WTE of staff working in NHSScotland has increased from 127,061.9 WTE to 138,651.2 WTE – a record high increase of 9.1 per cent, or 11,589.3 WTE.

The full press release is available at the following link:-

http://news.gov.scot/news/nhs-staffing-at-new-record-high

Tell us your views

Chamber and committees