This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Scottish Ambulance Service
20/06/2006
The annual review of the Scottish Ambulance Service will be chaired today by Health Minister Andy Kerr.
Annual reviews are held for every NHS Board in Scotland and cover key areas such as health improvement, delivering sustainable services, access and waiting times, finance, and workforce issues.
Speaking ahead of the review, Mr Kerr said:
"The Scottish Ambulance Service is a highly valued and vital arm of the NHS in Scotland, from its emergency service to patient transport to the air ambulance service.
"In particular, the Service's 'see and treat' approach goes a long way towards delivering our commitment to take healthcare to the patient where that is appropriate and offers real potential for reducing inappropriate hospital admissions.
"But as well as highlighting success, and giving credit where credit is due, I also want to use these annual reviews to scrutinise performance and drive forward further improvement.
"I believe that the ambulance service can build on its previous success and further improve services for patients.
"I want to see an NHS which is better, quicker, closer and safer. These reviews will help us deliver that."
In responding to calls to the emergency service, Ambulance Service paramedics often find themselves dealing with patients who may be experiencing an acute episode of what is for them a chronic and enduring condition - asthma and diabetes for example.
'See and treat' is about making the best use of the extended skills of paramedics to enable them to deal with patients with such conditions in the home, thus avoiding the need for unnecessary admissions - and journeys - to hospital Accident and Emergency Departments.