Chamber and committees

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s accident and emergency service responds to 999 calls, doctors’ urgent requests (where patients require urgent transport to hospital following a visit from a doctor) and to requests for hospital transfers. 999 calls are prioritised to ensure that life threatening calls are responded to first. The timescales placed on the doctors’ urgent requests and hospital transfers are agreed between the Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre and the patient’s clinician.

The Scottish Ambulance Service also provides a patient transport service for those patients with a clinical need who require transport to health services such as out-patient clinics or day centres. The patient’s doctor will request this transport in the first instance. The ambulance service is looking to improve its patient transport service in particular for those who have the greatest clinical need, for example, cancer or renal patients.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21402 on 19 December 2005. 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/wa.search.

All state registered paramedics working within the Scottish Ambulance Service have undertaken a cardiac care study course which includes training in the administration of thrombolytic drugs and culminates in written and practical assessments. Thrombolysis training is now routinely taught on the residential paramedic training course which includes an in-hospital attachment to a coronary care unit.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21407 on 19 December 2005. 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/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21402 on 19 December 2005. 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/wa.search.

Scottish Ambulance Service paramedics are trained in the administration of prescription only medicines, including morphine, as part of the paramedic training course. Monitoring of the use of morphine is carried out monthly by local and external clinical audits and is reported to senior management and the board of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

A rapid response unit (RRU) is one type of resource that could be used by the Scottish Ambulance Service to respond to a 999 life-threatening call. The deployment of RRUs and accident and emergency (A&E) ambulance units is co-ordinated and managed by the three emergency medical dispatch centres that cover Scotland.

An RRU, manned by a paramedic, will be dispatched to a 999 life-threatening call where it is assessed that the nearest available double crewed A&E ambulance is unlikely to reach the patient within eight minutes. The double crewed ambulance will back up the RRU. The number and location of RRUs across Scotland has been determined by analysing the ambulance service’s management data which predicts where and when these types of calls are most likely to be received. This allows the ambulance service to deploy all of its resources – RRUs and A&E ambulances – appropriately to ensure that those patients with the greatest need receive treatment quickly.

RRUs are manned by emergency frontline staff who are all aware of the ambulance service’s target of reaching 75% of Category A (life-threatening) calls within eight minutes by March 2008. The RRU and A&E ambulance should respond to calls as quickly as possible, but with due care and diligence to Road Traffic Act regulations and other road users including pedestrians.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21410 on 19 December 2005. 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/wa.search.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21402 on 19 December 2005. 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/wa.search.

The Scottish Ambulance Service began trialling the use of paramedic administered thrombolysis in 2000 in Tayside. Following the success of this trial, the practice was rolled out across Scotland and is now used in each of the six divisions of the ambulance service.

All established state registered paramedics have undertaken a cardiac care study course which includes training in the administration of thrombolytics and culminates in written and practical assessments. Thrombolysis training is now routinely taught on the residential paramedic training course and new paramedics are provided with training in and familiarisation with the associated 12-lead electro-cardiogram equipment during their in-hospital attachment to a coronary care unit. The professional training can be supplemented by self access computer aided learning programmes and local mentoring.