Chamber and committees

The information is publishedon page 9 of the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts, availablein the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 28640) and on SPS’s website.

Ministers set SPS targets ona range of indicators. These are designed to indicate how efficiently andeffectively SPS is delivering its business. Targets are reviewed periodically.Those currently set cover the period up to 2004-05.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3784 on 14 November 2003. 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/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3788. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-3787 on 14 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is currently halfway through a five-year programme to have a paramedicin every frontline ambulance by 2005-06. This involves the training of over 600additional paramedics. The training programme is widely advertised andambulance technicians are encouraged to apply. Direct recruitment is also usedto increase the number of paramedics in the service, subject of course tochecking of qualifications.

The ambulance service’sSouth West Division has an action plan to increase the number of paramedicsacross the division, including at the Vale of Leven Ambulance Station.Paramedic cover in Vale of Leven is supplemented by the use of overtime and theservice plans to post suitable direct recruitment personnel into the area. Iknow that the ambulance service has been in discussion with NHS Argyll and Clyde aboutthe implications of the changes to clinical services at the Vale of LevenHospital and I understand that funding has been secured for extra ambulanceresources.

To become a paramedic,ambulance technicians must have at least 18 months operational experience. Theyalso have to sit a pre-entry examination. Training takes six weeks at the Scottish Ambulance College withfour weeks clinical training in hospital. The costs of training a paramedic arebetween £8,000 and £10,000 depending on what operational cover is required tosupport their absence from their home base.

Priority-based dispatch isone element of the Scottish Ambulance Service’s modernisation programme andwill be introduced into Argyll and Clyde with effect from 31 December 2003, and into Dumfries and Galloway and Ayrshire and Arran with effect from 1 April 2004. Thepriority-based dispatch system is currently operational in all other areas ofmainland Scotland.

Supporting priority-baseddispatch and another element of the service’s modernisation programme is the satellitetracking system, which is now in operation in all the emergency control rooms.This enables control room staff to track the movements of accident andemergency vehicles and to deploy the vehicle which is closest to an incident. Thesatellite navigation system - which allows the crew to identify the location ofan incident via an electronic map - has been installed in the service’s rapid responseunits. The service plans to install this system in all accident and emergencyvehicles over the next two years.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3784 on 14 November 2003. 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/search_wa.

Hours of work are the subjectof continuous monitoring by the Scottish Ambulance Service and the informationis shared with staff side representatives. This information is used to informdiscussions about changes that require to be made to ensure sustainedcompliance with the directive. The service has drawn up options and plans forimplementing these changes, including adjusted shift patterns and theconversion of some ambulance stations to different modes of working, includingfull-time working. It is continuing to work through this change programme.

As a temporary measure,until the vacant surgical post at Vale of Leven Hospital is filled, patientswho require surgery for breast cancer (approximately three or four per month)will have their operations at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. All other breast services, out-patient clinics andoperations for benign breast problems, will continue to be provided at the Valeof Leven Hospital, fully supported by a multi-disciplinary clinical teamincluding specialist nurses.