- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the criteria for determining whether a 999 call made for an ambulance is an emergency to demonstrate that the criteria are standardised, in light of the recent article in the British Medical Journal, Treating the clock and not the patient: ambulance response times and risk.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-16363 on 18 May 2005. 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.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 27 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the criteria for measuring response times for 999 calls for ambulances to demonstrate that the criteria are standardised, in light of the recent article in the British Medical Journal, Treating the clock and not the patient: ambulance response times and risk.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-16363 on 18 May 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliamentswebsite, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any information from medical and official literature which suggests that the eight-minute response time target for ambulance crews is not evidence-based and may be placing patients and ambulance crews at risk and, if so, what the sources of this information are.
Answer
The eight minute target is an internationallyrecognised target based on medical research which demonstrates that the earlieran emergency ambulance can arrive at the scene of a cardiac arrest, the greaterthe chances are of saving that victims life.
There are numerous medical researchreports which demonstrate that the benefits of a priority based dispatch systemfar outweigh the risks associated with the first come, first served system whichwas in operation previously. References to some of these reports are listed in AnnexC of the NHS Executives Review of Ambulance Performance Standards Final Reportof Steering Group published in July 1996 (ref. no: HMN7:TSHJ 1996 f).
The National Audit Office, the Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament and the Health Department all supported the 2002 decision of the ScottishAmbulance Service to implement priority based dispatch.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers received a copy of the findings of the recent staff survey undertaken by the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Answer
The survey referred to is an NHS StaffOpinion Survey in which all staff in NHSScotland are invited to participate andwhich was undertaken in 2006. It covers a wide range of issues such as communication,personal development, involvement in decisions and fairness and consistency of treatment.NHS boards are then explicitly required to incorporate feedback from the surveyinto their local Staff Governance action plan, which is developed in partnershipwith local representatives from trade unions and professional organisations andhelps to prioritise those issues that are most important to staff at a local level.
Staff governance, including action plans covering the findingsfrom local staff surveys, form a key part of the discussions I hold with boardchairs and chief executives during the public annual review meetings.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive why the Scottish Ambulance Service is not subject to a regular inspection of its functions and performance in the same way as prisons, police forces and schools.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service issubject to regular inspection of its functions and performance, as are all otherhealth boards across Scotland.
The Scottish Ambulance Service producesa Local Delivery Plan each year which is agreed with the Health Department and setsout the performance targets for the year. Progress against this plan is monitoredby the Health Department and is discussed by the Ambulance Service Board at itsmeetings throughout the year.
In addition, I chair an annual reviewmeeting with the ambulance service’s chairman and members of the management team.This meeting is held in public and is about supporting the ambulance service indelivering the functions and responsibilities delegated to it using a process whichenables the Health Department and Scottish ministers to determine how effectivelythese are being discharged.
The ambulance service is also subject to regular inspection bythe Health and Safety Executive and review by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what input frontline ambulance staff had in setting the existing performance indicators for the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Answer
The current performance indicators for responding to 999 emergencycalls were originally identified when the ambulance service was putting forwardits proposals for introducing priority based dispatch in 2001-02. The ambulanceservice engaged with stakeholders, including staff, over a two year period and therewere staff representatives (paramedics and technicians) on the project team. Thisprocess of engagement has continued each year as the ambulance service has developedits key performance management document which is, since 2006, the Local DeliveryPlan.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the current performance indicators used by the Scottish Ambulance Service to take account of the number of stages between a patient’s call for assistance and safe arrival at hospital and to better reflect quality of care for patients.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service monitorseach of the stages between a call coming into the 999 emergency service throughto turnaround time at hospital including allocation time, time to scene, time atscene and time to hospital, and reviews the performance regularly to identify anyareas for improvement.
This information, along with the performance against the keyindicators covered in the ambulance service’s Local Delivery Plan (LDP), is submittedregularly to the health department. The key performance indicators are reviewedannually as part of the review of the ambulance service’s LDP.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 March 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to power companies and Virgin Media regarding additional charges applied to customers who do not, or cannot, use direct debits and the impact that this has on those who are most financially vulnerable.
Answer
Our financial inclusionstrategy acknowledges that people who have no access to a bank account sufferundue hardship. The UK government has agreed with banks to work towards thegoal of halving the number of adults in households without a bank account, andto make significant progress against that target within 2 years. Four creditunions in Scotland are now offering transaction services to theirmembers as part of a Banking Services initiative which will assist those creditunion members who are currently without a bank account and thereforefinancially excluded.
My predecessor MalcolmChisholm met with energy companies in September and November last year. Variousmeasures to protect vulnerable customers from rising prices were discussed butthe specific issue of additional charges to customers not using direct debitwas not discussed. We have made no representations to Virgin Media.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the criteria for determining whether a 999 call made for an ambulance is an emergency call to demonstrate that the criteria are standardised and are not subject to any “fiddling”, as alleged in a recent article in the British Medical Journal.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 March 2007
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the criteria for measuring response times for 999 calls for ambulances across Scotland to demonstrate that the criteria are standardised, in a recent article in the British Medical Journal.
Answer
Awaiting answer
