- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 2 April 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Ambulance Service's decision to restructure its Community Resilience Department due to a lack of funding.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service work in partnership with a number of public and voluntary organisations including the British Heart Foundation who contribute towards service delivery costs in delivery community resilience related functions and services including. The service are currently reviewing how their core funding from the Scottish Government can achieve best value and are approaching voluntary organisations with a view to enabling partnership working with funding contributions towards community related services.
The Scottish Government has agreed the Local Delivery Plan for the Scottish Ambulance Service for 2015-16 which sets out workstreams to enable continued partner working towards strengthening community resilience. This is echoed in the Scottish Ambulance Service Strategy - Towards 2020 Taking Care to the Patient.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 2 April 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many medical emergencies Community First Responders have responded to in each year since their introduction, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Service has provided information relating to Community First Responder activity back to 2006.
| NHS Health Board Territory | | Community First Responder Scheme Activity | | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | TOTAL | |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 130 | 166 | 114 | 82 | 147 | 191 | 442 | 607 | 638 | 2517 |
| Borders | 0 | 38 | 94 | 129 | 102 | 68 | 92 | 128 | 174 | 825 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 29 | 37 | 56 | 87 | 48 | 55 | 89 | 194 | 396 | 991 |
| Fife | 3 | 47 | 390 | 131 | 209 | 262 | 223 | 159 | 284 | 1708 |
| Forth Valley | 290 | 308 | 316 | 362 | 483 | 388 | 237 | 244 | 235 | 2863 |
| Grampian | 1247 | 1763 | 1660 | 924 | 1015 | 627 | 694 | 678 | 941 | 9549 |
| Greater Glasgow and Clyde | 0 | 4 | 8 | 37 | 75 | 85 | 232 | 280 | 458 | 1179 |
| Highland | 57 | 269 | 434 | 410 | 468 | 569 | 530 | 525 | 741 | 4003 |
| Lanarkshire | 1 | 0 | 2 | 70 | 362 | 287 | 190 | 179 | 181 | 1272 |
| Lothian | 169 | 307 | 555 | 670 | 489 | 539 | 698 | 683 | 551 | 4661 |
| Orkney | 0 | 0 | 7 | 19 | 83 | 72 | 72 | 52 | 33 | 338 |
| Shetland | 0 | 3 | 2 | 19 | 20 | 33 | 25 | 29 | 9 | 140 |
| Tayside | 0 | 70 | 303 | 328 | 1045 | 169 | 366 | 457 | 269 | 3007 |
| Western Isles | 16 | 50 | 89 | 148 | 129 | 112 | 95 | 71 | 70 | 780 |
| No Health Board Specified | 25 | 46 | 64 | 57 | 74 | 94 | 82 | 97 | 151 | 690 |
| TOTAL | 1967 | 3108 | 4094 | 3473 | 4749 | 3551 | 4067 | 4383 | 5131 | 34523 |
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many Community First Responder groups there are, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer
There are currently 123 Community First Responder Groups throughout Scotland. The Scottish Ambulance Service has information as to how many groups there are broken down by the service’s operational divisions, and that is why the information is presented as such.
| Scottish Ambulance Service Divisional Area |
| North Division which includes NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles. 41 Community First Responder and Co Responder Schemes |
| East Central Division which includes NHS Tayside, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Fife 24 Community First Responder and Co Responder Schemes |
| West Central Division which includes NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lanarkshire 13 Community First Responder and Co Responder Schemes |
| South East Division which includes NHS Lothian and NHS Borders 25 Community First Responder and Co Responder Schemes |
| South West Division which includes parts of NHS Highland, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Dumfries and Galloway 20 Community First Responder and Co Responder Schemes |
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 31 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how much it costs to start a Community First Responder scheme and what the annual running cost is for training and equipment.
Answer
The information requested is broken down in the following table:
| Item | Cost including VAT |
| Total initial start-up cost of a community first responder scheme excluding vehicle costs or expenses claims | Costs vary depending on number of volunteers per scheme – however for a scheme of six members the initial direct costs will be £4000 (approximately). |
| Annual Training Costs Band 3 ambulance staff member visiting a Community First responder Scheme to deliver and quality assure training. 10 hours with a 60 mile round trip including pre planning time. Band 7 Member of ambulance staff visiting a Community First responder Scheme to quality assure training. 10 hours with a 60 mile round trip including pre planning time. | £249 per visit £462 per visit (Approximately 1-2 training visits are carried out per annum) |
| Equipment Costs | Airway / CPR manikin (2 x South West, South East, East Central and West Central Divisions, 4 for North for training – price varies dependant on company and model) £3000 each approx = £36,000 approx. initial costs Replacement lungs, chest skins servicing etc = est. £2000 annually (national) |
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 March 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 27 March 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how many public access defibrillators are available in each NHS board area.
Answer
There are no centrally collected figures on the number of public access defibrillators available in each NHS board area.
The Scottish Government will launch the Scottish Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy on 27 March 2015 which aims to improve all the key elements of the chain of survival, including defibrillation. This will include implementing effective arrangements to ensure that public access defibrillators are mapped to Ambulance Control Centres, maintained and accessible to the public.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2015
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2015
To ask the Scottish Government when it expects minimum unit pricing of alcohol to be implemented.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2015
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve survival rates from brain cancers.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2015
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of funding for Action on Hearing Loss Scotland’s Hear to Help service being withdrawn from March 2015, what contingencies it has introduced to deal with any (a) increase in demand and (b) impact on waiting times at audiology departments in NHS (i) Greater Glasgow and Clyde, (ii) Ayrshire and Arran, (iii) Tayside and (iv) Borders.
Answer
Funding for the Hear to Help service has not been withdrawn. The Scottish Government provided funding for the Borders project over the financial years 2007-10 with further funding made available to seven pilot projects in 2011-12.
The services provided by the Hear to Help initiative are complementary to those provided by NHS boards, and indeed other third sector organisations, and do not substitute or replace the services already provided by local NHS audiology departments. Individual boards determine what action is required to meet demand for services in their area.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2015
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that people who have been provided with NHS hearing aids with the assistance of Action on Hearing Loss Scotland’s Hear to Help service will have their devices maintained or replaced after funding for the scheme is withdrawn in March 2015.
Answer
Funding for the Hear to Help service has not been withdrawn. The Scottish Government provided funding for the Borders project over the financial years 2007-10 with further funding made available to seven pilot projects in 2011-12.
The services provided by the Hear to Help initiative are complementary to those provided by NHS boards, and indeed other third sector organisations, and do not substitute or replace the services already provided by the NHS. People provided with NHS hearing aids will continue to be able to access maintenance and replacement services provided by their local NHS audiology department and from other third sector organisations where they provide a service.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 September 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 January 2015
To ask the Scottish Government what the hospitality bill was for events held in (a) Bute House and (b) Edinburgh Castle in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.
Answer
The costs for Scottish Government hosted events at: a) Bute House; and b) Edinburgh Castle for: i) 2010-11; ii) 2011-12; and iii) 2012-13 are detailed in the following tables.
Bute House
| Financial Year | Total Cost |
| 2010-11 | £28,581.82 |
| 2011-12 | £23,322.50 |
| 2012-13 | £9,308.42 |
Edinburgh Castle
| Financial Year | Total Cost |
| 2010-11 | £200,999.97 |
| 2011-12 | £71,335.17 |
| 2012-13 | £142,794.67 |
The Scottish Government use Bute House and Edinburgh Castle, which incur no facility fee, as a resource to host a range of meetings, dinners and receptions to conduct official business, showcase Scotland and to celebrate and recognise worthy causes.
For example, some events included in these costs are: a reception to recognise the work of Breast Cancer Care, as part of the charity’s 40th Anniversary celebrations during Breast Cancer Awareness Month; a dinner to celebrate the visit of Joyce Banda, the President of Malawi, during the bi-centenary celebrations of David Livingstone; a reception to celebrate the visit of the US Fulbright Scholars to Scotland; and the Brave@Heart Awards, recognising and celebrating extreme acts of bravery by the people of Scotland.
