NHS 24 do not send ambulances to patients. If NHS 24 receive a call from a patient that is deemed to be an emergency, it is passed to a SAS call handler within the Ambulance Control Centres (ACC).

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service and Health Boards to ensure a continuous focus on responding to the most critically unwell patients as quickly as possible.

We continue to invest in supporting the Service and patients, including a record number of additional staff (1388) since 2020. Our £50m funding investment this year is being used, in part, to recruit a further 317 additional frontline staff across the country.

We have also set out a number of principles that health boards should aim to achieve in order to safely reduce handover times at the front door of hospitals. This is an important piece of work that will reduce the pressure on hospital and ambulance services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-25250 on‎ 16 February 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

This is operational matter for ScotRail and British Transport Police (BTP). The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government is aware of the BMA Scotland’s views that anaesthesia associates (AA) and physician associates (PA) should be regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) rather than the General Medical Council (GMC).

The Scottish Government is satisfied with the suitability of the GMC as the regulator. AAs and PAs are educated in curricula aligned to the medical model and work complementary to and under the supervision of doctors, a common regulator ensures consistent standards, providing doctors with better assurance when delegating clinical tasks. It also ensures a consistent approach across professional groups in relation to adverse events, particularly where fitness to practise concerns arise.

Furthermore, the Department of Health and Social Care published a UK-wide consultation in 2017 which clearly demonstrated a majority preference for the GMC as the regulator (59% in comparison to 20% for the HCPC).

With regard to the BMA Scotland’s concerns that GMC regulation will confuse patients as to a practitioner’s professional status, current guidance issued to Health Boards by the Scottish Government stipulates that patients should always be told when they are being treated by an AA or PA, rather than a doctor. Once regulated, the roles will also become subject to the principles in Good Medical Practice to always be open and honest about their role and ensure that they are working within the limits of their qualifications and experience.

Ministers are carefully considering the outline business case for the Small Vessel Replacement Programme, which includes the procurement route and a full financial assessment of the programme.

This is an important, complex issue and an update will be provided to Parliament once a decision on investment has been taken. This is expected shortly.

The proposed membership for the Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board is indicated below.

As arrangements are still being finalised ahead of the first meeting at the end of April, membership may be subject to change.

• Head of Recruitment and Capacity Building, Health Workforce Directorate, Scottish Government (Co-Chair)
• Medical Director, NES Education for Scotland (Co-chair)
• Deputy Chief Executive and Director of NMAHP, NHS Education for Scotland
• Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Scottish Government
• Chief Nursing Officer Directorate, Scottish Government
• Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Scottish Government
• Chief Allied Health Professions Officer, Scottish Government
• Scottish Association of Medical Directors (SAMD)
• Scottish Executive Nurse Directors Group (SEND)
• Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties in Scotland
• Faculty of Physician Associates
• Association of Anaesthesia Associates
• General Medical Council
• Workforce Planning Lead, West of Scotland Regional Planning
• Head of Workforce and Development, North of Scotland Regional Planning
• Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD)
• Health Improvement Scotland
• Directors of Human Resources, NHS Scotland
• British Medical Association

The overall cost of the project, as stated in the Full Business Case, to replace the internal wall linings is £32.7m in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. This project is currently on site and is expected to run until 2027.

The information requested on how many registered pathologists there have been in each of the last 10 years is not centrally available.

Information on Chemical pathologists and Histopathology, can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at:

NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .

The Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) Programme Board will meet for the first time in April 2024. Minutes of meetings will be published online on the NES Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) | Turas | Learn (nhs.scot)

In February 2021 Brookfield Multiplex advised NHSGGC that they had concerns regarding the suitability of the wall linings installed in the atrium of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Intrusive surveys were immediately commissioned by NHSGGC that confirmed the installation of ACM polyethylene products which do not comply with current Building Control standards. It is the boards position that the wall linings installed did not meet the contract requirements and this is the subject of an ongoing legal action.

NHSGGC followed a Fire Risk Assessment process immediately after being notified of the concerns with the wall linings in the atrium. This process identified mitigation measures that were implemented from February 2021 to manage any potential fire risk generated by the presence of unsuitable wall linings.

A Full Business Case for replacement of the internal wall linings was approved in November 2022 with the works commencing in the same month and will be fully complete in 2027.