Hansard

The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone) NPA

Members may be aware that some details of the proposed ministerial statement on the Scottish Ambulance Service appear to have been made public via the media ...

Stephen Kerr (Central Scotland) (Con) Con

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I welcome your comments. Paragraph 3.5 of the Scottish ministerial code spells out clearly that, “When the Parliamen...

The Presiding Officer NPA

I thank Mr Kerr for his point of order. I have yet to see the statement, as I have been chairing in the Parliament, but I am aware of the significant referen...

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Humza Yousaf) SNP

Presiding Officer, I hope that you will appreciate that it was never my intention to cause you or the Parliament any issues when I spoke to the media ahead o...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur) LD

The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised by his statement. I am conscious that his statement has overrun, for understandable reason...

Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con) Con

I would normally have welcomed advance sight of the health secretary’s statement, but, on this occasion, it was published on the front page of the Daily Reco...

Stephen Kerr Con

Shameful.

Sandesh Gulhane Con

For weeks, we have heard stories of horrendous waits for ambulances. This morning, Jamie McNamee of Unite the Union said: “This is as bad as it’s been, in m...

Humza Yousaf SNP

I have given detail in my statement about the additional staff that we are recruiting. On the one hand, the Opposition is telling me that we should have take...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

Before I call Jackie Baillie, I invite members who want to ask a question, if they have not already done so, to press their request-to-speak button now, or a...

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab) Lab

On a day of new records, and not good ones, the health secretary has been missing in action, refusing press interviews about ambulances for five days, which—...

Humza Yousaf SNP

Ms Baillie is incorrect, and she may want to go back and correct the record, as I did interviews last week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. I suspect...

Annabelle Ewing (Cowdenbeath) (SNP) SNP

Given that we are in the midst of a global pandemic, with unprecedented pressures across the health service, including resultant pressures on our Ambulance S...

Humza Yousaf SNP

In short, yes. I know that health boards are already doing that, and they will continue to look at where staff can be redeployed to the front line when that ...

Sue Webber (Lothian) (Con) Con

The past 18 months have been a time of unprecedented pressure in the NHS, but the problem is historical. In 2018, only 20 per cent of ambulance staff thought...

Humza Yousaf SNP

Sue Webber is clearly not talking to her front-bench colleague, because he just said that we announced the investment in additional staff before the pandemic...

John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP) SNP

Will the cabinet secretary say more about the 103 military staff who will be helping? For example, will they be driving their own vehicles or normal ambulanc...

Humza Yousaf SNP

I am sure that it will be. I have not seen the detail of the military aid to civil authorities—MACA—requests that the UK and Welsh Governments have made, alt...

Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab

The cabinet secretary says that there will be additional ambulance staff on the ground by April 2022 and that, of the 443 staff who will be recruited this ye...

Humza Yousaf SNP

I will send the final detail to members once it has been officially agreed between the Scottish Ambulance Service and the military. We expect some of the mil...

Christine Grahame (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP) SNP

I note that only 21 per cent of calls in August were about life-threatening conditions. Although I welcome the 100 additional call handlers, will the cabinet...

Humza Yousaf SNP

The issue of the IT systems is looked at regularly by SAS clinical advisers in control centres. They already signpost patients to alternative services. Howev...

Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) LD

The situation is unacceptable. It is not just down to the pandemic, and to suggest that it is undermines the concerns that staff have been expressing since l...

Humza Yousaf SNP

We are still in the midst of a global pandemic. It is unbelievable that the member stands there and says that this has nothing to do with the pandemic. Of co...

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

We had enough sedentary interventions, Mr Cole-Hamilton.

Emma Roddick (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) SNP

I have spoken to frustrated first responders in my region who, despite being ready and willing, are not being offered the training that is required for them ...

Humza Yousaf SNP

The amazing community first responders to whom Ms Roddick refers serve in partnership with the Scottish Ambulance Service to provide exceptional support to p...

Gillian Mackay (Central Scotland) (Green) Green

I have previously raised in the chamber the pressure that is being put on out-of-hours GP services. Is the cabinet secretary concerned that people who are fa...

Humza Yousaf SNP

We are committed to increasing funding for primary care by 25 per cent. We made that commitment and I know that the member welcomed it. In short, we are look...

Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP

What steps are being taken to ensure that Ambulance Service transport, including patient transport other than blue-light ambulances, can be utilised to free ...