Scottish Ambulance Service (Savings)

Part of Question Time — Scottish Executive — Health and Wellbeing – in the Scottish Parliament at 2:15 pm on 4 December 2008.

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Photo of Nicola Sturgeon Nicola Sturgeon Scottish National Party 2:15, 4 December 2008

It is up to the Scottish Ambulance Service to make decisions about the provision of the service as long as it provides a safe, good-quality service to the public and the patients that it serves.

Peter Peacock glosses over the central point in the debate, which is that every single penny of the efficiency savings that the Scottish Ambulance Service or any other national health service board achieves is reinvested in front-line care. So far this year, the Scottish Ambulance Service has invested in 30 additional front-line accident and emergency ambulance crews, including the vehicles and their running costs, and 10 additional posts in the emergency medical dispatch centres that deal directly with the public. It has also made other significant developments.

In all seriousness, I think that there is a real issue about members of the Labour group getting up in the chamber and complaining about efficiency savings that are being reinvested in front-line services when the party that they represent intends to impose £500 million-worth of cuts in the Scottish Government budget, which will result in real problems for NHS services across the country. Of course, that is without taking into account the £130 million that the United Kingdom Government intends to remove from the Scottish health capital budget, which will create serious problems for the Scottish Ambulance Service. I suggest that Peter Peacock turns his attention to that issue.