Chamber and committees

The ambulance service worksin partnership with NHS boards and other bodies in this way, where there is capacityto do so.

The training period for an ambulancetechnician is nine weeks residential at the Scottish Ambulance College. Theprobationary period for a technician is one year following the training period.

Technicians must have a minimumof 18 months post technician experience before applying to become a paramedic. Theyattend six weeks residential training at the Scottish Ambulance College. Thisis followed by a minimum of four weeks clinical training in a teaching hospitalunder the supervision of medical staff where they must demonstrate competence andknowledge in various clinical skills and techniques. Once qualified, the paramedicsmust register with the Health Professions Council to which they are professionallyaccountable. The Scottish Ambulance Service takes a supporting role in their continuousprofessional development, with paramedic staff undertaking refresher training annually.

Rapid response units are primarilyintended to be deployed to Category A calls, but will attend Category B calls occasionally.As a general rule, rapid response units will be staffed either by a single paramedicor a single technician. In some cases they may be double crewed.

A probationary paramedic is aqualified technician with at least 18 months’ experience and could be deployed ona single-manned rapid response unit.

As a general rule, rapid responseunits will be staffed by either a single paramedic or a single technician. In somecases they may be double crewed.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31100 on 30 January 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

In 2003, the Scottish Executiveagreed to meet the £5 million capital costs to the Scottish Ambulance Service ofit implementing a defibrillator replacement programme, with the revenue consequencesbeing met by the ambulance service through its normal allocation. This programmecovered both the procurement of shock boxes and new defibrillators capable of beingfurther upgraded. In 2005-06, the ambulance service purchased 25 shock boxes withECG capabilities and 58 basic shock boxes (without ECG capability) at a cost ofapproximately £120,000.

The ambulance service has receivedconsiderable increases in revenue funding over recent years. Since 2002-03, itsallocation has increased by some 30% and currently stands at £167.8 million.

The Scottish Ambulance Servicedeploys the most appropriate resource to an emergency call, and in relation to CategoryA (life-threatening) calls, the policy provides for this to be a paramedic response,whether that paramedic is in a single-manned rapid response unit or is part of adouble crewed ambulance. There may however be exceptional circumstances when, owingto short notice sick absences or other situations, the choice is whether to deploya rapid response unit manned by a technician or to run with one less emergency resourcefor that particular shift.

The ambulance service has inrecent months introduced nearly 100 additional technicians in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.This influx of staff has skewed the ratio of technicians to paramedics meaning thatcurrently there are seven technicians out of a staff of 30 who may be deployed onrapid response units, while other technicians are being trained up to paramediclevel. The ambulance service plans to have full paramedic cover in place by December2007.

The number of improvement noticesservice on the Scottish Ambulance Service by the Health and Safety Executive since2000 are listed in the following table:

Year	Number of Improvement Notices
2000	1
2001	2
2002	2
2003	0
2004	0
2005	7
2006	0

Note: *Data provided by the ScottishAmbulance Service

The Chairman of the ScottishAmbulance Service has, at my request, been keeping me informed on the progress towardscompliance of the seven improvement notices served in 2005. All seven of these notices,along with the previous five in 2000-02, have been discharged.

In 2001, the Scottish AmbulanceService was served with a health and safety improvement notice with regard to infectioncontrol standards across the ambulance service. I am informed that it has compliedwith this notice.