The first item is a further response from the Scottish Executive on the priority-based dispatch system for the Ambulance Service in Scotland. On 6 March, we considered a progress report. The response represents the substantive report on priority-based dispatch, together with the review of operations rooms, which was the main thrust of our report. I am happy to say that the response seems to be broadly positive. The Executive says that it is persuaded to proceed with proposals that would result in prioritisation being facilitated, as part of a wider re-engineering of the critical underlying operation room functions. Like the previous commitment to review emergency ambulance performance, the proposals seem to be sensible and are welcome.
The response from the health department is welcome—it is a certain vindication of our work that the department is so seriously considering our recommendations. It is heartening, when it said that it would come back with an updated report, that it has done so. We have in the past been critical of departments for saying that they would do something and not following it up. We should give credit where credit is due—it is good that the department is taking on board our recommendations and progressing them satisfactorily.
I heartily agree. Our job is not only to criticise, but to encourage. I am happy that our recommendations are being taken seriously and acted upon, and that progress is being made. On section 8, I would like to know what results have been achieved so far on the monitoring of incident service times. I also wonder when we can expect the monitoring of patient report forms to be fully implemented. Those are small points, but we should keep them in mind when we are considering the response.