The Scottish Ambulance Service is part of NHS Scotland. It is governed by a special health board and is funded directly by the Health and Social Care Directorates of the Scottish Government.
It is the sole public emergency medical service covering Scotland's mainland and islands; providing a paramedic-led accident and emergency service for 999 calls, a patient transport service, and a wide variety of supporting roles including air medical services, specialist operations including response to hazardous substances, or chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence incidents and specialist transport and retrieval.
When the Scottish National Health Service was set up in 1948 the St Andrew's Ambulance Association and the British Red Cross were paid to run the ambulance services. The British Red Cross stopped doing it in 1967.
It has more than 1,300 paramedic staff, and 1,200 technicians.