- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when the priority-based dispatch system for the Scottish Ambulance Service will be operational.
Answer
Priority-based dispatch isone element of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s modernisation programme andwill be introduced into Argyll and Clyde with effect from 31 December 2003, and into Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire and Arran with effect from 1 April 2004. Thepriority-based dispatch system is currently operational in all other areas ofmainland Scotland.
Supporting priority-baseddispatch and another element of the service’s modernisation programme is the satellitetracking system, which is now in operation in all the emergency control rooms.This enables control room staff to track the movements of accident andemergency vehicles and to deploy the vehicle which is closest to an incident. Thesatellite navigation system - which allows the crew to identify the location ofan incident via an electronic map - has been installed in the service’s rapid responseunits. The service plans to install this system in all accident and emergencyvehicles over the next two years.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to increase the number of paramedics serving in the (a) Scottish Ambulance Service and (b) Vale of Leven ambulance station.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service is currently halfway through a five-year programme to have a paramedicin every frontline ambulance by 2005-06. This involves the training of over 600additional paramedics. The training programme is widely advertised andambulance technicians are encouraged to apply. Direct recruitment is also usedto increase the number of paramedics in the service, subject of course tochecking of qualifications.
The ambulance service’sSouth West Division has an action plan to increase the number of paramedicsacross the division, including at the Vale of Leven Ambulance Station.Paramedic cover in Vale of Leven is supplemented by the use of overtime and theservice plans to post suitable direct recruitment personnel into the area. Iknow that the ambulance service has been in discussion with NHS Argyll and Clyde aboutthe implications of the changes to clinical services at the Vale of LevenHospital and I understand that funding has been secured for extra ambulanceresources.
To become a paramedic,ambulance technicians must have at least 18 months operational experience. Theyalso have to sit a pre-entry examination. Training takes six weeks at the Scottish Ambulance College withfour weeks clinical training in hospital. The costs of training a paramedic arebetween £8,000 and £10,000 depending on what operational cover is required tosupport their absence from their home base.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding is required to implement the European Working Time Directive in the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3784 on 14 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to train ambulance technicians as paramedics; how long such training takes, and what the cost of the training is.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3788. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of ambulance provision was for the Vale of Leven Hospital catchment area prior to 1 October 2003, showing the number of vehicles and crewing levels; whether any increases have been made to this position to reflect changes in service patterns since that date and, if so, by what level.
Answer
This is primarily anoperational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service. I know that the ScottishAmbulance Service has been in discussion with NHS Argyll and Clyde aboutthe implications of the changes to clinical services at the Vale of LevenHospital and I understand that funding has been secured for extra ambulanceresources. I have asked the general manager of the Scottish Ambulance Service’ssouth west division to contact you with the details.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it, or NHS Argyll and Clyde, will take to restore and enhance the breast cancer service at the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Answer
As a temporary measure,until the vacant surgical post at Vale of Leven Hospital is filled, patientswho require surgery for breast cancer (approximately three or four per month)will have their operations at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. All other breast services, out-patient clinics andoperations for benign breast problems, will continue to be provided at the Valeof Leven Hospital, fully supported by a multi-disciplinary clinical teamincluding specialist nurses.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was awarded to NHS Argyll and Clyde to assist the implementation of the recommendations of A Clean Bill of Health? and how this additional money was spent, broken down by geographical location.
Answer
As part of the AuditScotland review process on hospital cleaning, NHS trusts in Argyll and Clyde agreedaction plans to help them meet the recommendations. Spending on these plans isa matter for NHS Argyll and Clyde but progress is monitored by the auditors. The Scottish Executive has not allocated specific funding for cleaning services but theoverall allocation to NHS Argyll and Clyde has increased by 7% on average over the last threeyears. This is additional funding of £76.9 million.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Eaga Partnership is charging pensioners #40 to lodge an appeal against a decision to refuse an application for the installation of central heating under the central heating installation programme and, if so, what its position is on the matter.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:
Applicants who apply forfree central heating are visited by one of Eaga’s surveyors. If there is anexisting central heating system and it is not clear that it is broken andbeyond repair, a further specialist surveyor inspects the system. If thatinspector determines that the system can be repaired the householder is offeredthe right of appeal against the decision. If they take up that right they areasked to pay £40 towards the cost of another inspection of their system. If theappeal is successful the £40 is returned. The estimated appeal fee is estimatedto be one third to one half of the actual cost of an inspection.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 23 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what implications the new regulations to amend the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 will have for Scotland.
Answer
The regulations (SI2003/2457) to amend the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations1999 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 were made by the UKGovernment on 24 September 2003 and will come into force on 27 October 2003.Scottish ministers agreed previously that these regulations should be amended forScotland, and they will now come into force here as in the rest of the UK.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 22 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages a role for community councils within local planning forums, as referred to in Your Place, Your Plan, and what the nature of that role will be.
Answer
We are looking to localplanning forums to encourage discussion and build up local interest andexpertise in planning. The constitution and remit of such forums has yet to befinalised. We may look to the proposed National Consultative Group to have arole in developing this measure.
