Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's

questions and at question number one I call Douglas Roths.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I've previously raised examples of patients being sent

south of the border for NHS treatment because they can't get it here from Scotland's NHS. Now, through a Freedom of

Information request, we've learnt that half a million pounds of Scottish taxpayers' money

has been spent sending almost 15,000 patient scans around the world, some as far away as Australia, to be reviewed.

So, First Minister, why are Scottish scans being sent to private companies on another continent for analysis?

First Minister.

The NHS will always take steps to ensure the speediest possible diagnosis of patients and the

speediest possible treatment of patients. What Douglas Ross is narrated, I am happy to look

closely at the figures and respond to him in more detail. But that will represent a tiny,

tiny fraction of the processing of scans overall in Scotland.

But where, for whatever reason, whether that is partly to do, and I don't know in this case

whether it is this, partly to do with the nature of the condition or, at times, constraints

in the service here. If there are steps that can be taken to speed up test results, to speed up treatment of patients, then

the NHS will do that.

The fact of the matter is we are investing record sums in our national health service, we

are employing record numbers of people in our national health service, but the service

is under significant pressure and therefore we will continue to support it to ensure that patients get the services and the treatment that they deserve.

Douglas Ross.

Well, let me tell the First Minister why thousands of scans are being sent abroad at great cost to Scotland's NHS.

The Royal College of radiologists say that Scotland needs a hundred additional consultant radiologists than it has right now.

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