To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances are reserved for hospital-to-hospital transfers, broken down by NHS board.

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulances reserved for dealing with 999 calls have been involved in the transfer of patients from hospitals to specialist centres in other hospitals for emergency treatment in each of the last five years.

The only ambulances reserved for hospital to hospital transfers are Medic 1 in Edinburgh, Medic 2 in Glasgow and four neonatal ambulances. Other hospital to hospital transfers are undertaken by any available ambulances, whether accident and emergency or patient transport service, depending on the needs of the patient. The Scottish Ambulance Service does not reserve ambulances for hospital transfers. Accident and emergency ambulances are tactically deployed using predicted demand and satellite tracking systems.