Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33681 on 27 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

There are therefore no financial barriers to receiving optometry services.

The Scottish Government commissioned NHS Education for Scotland (NES) to establish the Centre for Workforce Supply (CWS) in November 2021 to support workforce capacity across NHS Scotland and to ensure it has the right people, in the right place at the right time. The CWS works collaboratively with health boards, Health and Social Care Partnerships and other key stakeholders to support the implementation of innovative workforce initiatives which help tackle priority supply challenges. Over the next year, CWS will be leading work connecting with health boards such as Public Health Scotland, and NHS Grampian, with a view to understanding how population health, service demand, and workforce supply data, can be used more effectively in workforce planning.

NES have a range of resources and training programmes in place to support rural practitioners across Scotland including increasing the opportunities to train in rural Scotland, the GP Rural Fellowship and the new GMC Rural and Remote Health (unscheduled and urgent care) Credential.

We also commissioned the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care (NCRRHC) in 2023, again delivered by NES. The purpose of NCRRHC is to co-ordinate work to improve remote, rural and island healthcare recruitment and retention; to increase access to training; and to develop new models of service delivery, which are focused on improved outcomes for rural and island communities.

Further, the Scottish Government has convened a Remote, Rural and Islands Task and Finish Group which is developing a framework and sustainable operating model to plan sustainable services for rural and island communities, which will include workforce considerations such as recruitment, retention and training.

Policy development was taken forward to determine which courses were available. It was concluded that, due to a number of factors, that it would not be taken further, not least due to the inhibitions of the current devolution settlement.

We have already invested £30 million to reduce waiting lists that built up throughout the pandemic. This funding is being targeted at a series of national and local plans to reduce backlogs by maximising the use of local and national resources across Scotland. As part of this, we have allocated additional funding to Gynaecology services which we expect to deliver around 3,500 new outpatient appointments.

The Budget we set out on 4 December 2024 will throw the weight of the government behind performance improvements with almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. By March 2026, we expect no one to be waiting longer than 12 months for a new outpatient, inpatient treatment or day case treatment.

With regards to the average wait times across all boards compared with waiting times in rural areas such as Aberdeenshire, this information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS Grampian directly for information.

The Scottish Government have a number of initiatives already in place to attract healthcare professionals to rural areas, including Aberdeenshire.

Funding is provided to Network Rail, ScotRail Trains Limited, Scottish Rail Holdings Limited and Caledonian Sleeper to facilitate their ongoing operations. Investment in security measures is determined by the aforementioned parties, using their existing funding streams. British Transport Police operates in these remote areas as part of its responsibilities.

It is for the Chief Constable, working with the working with the Scottish Police Authority, to determine how to allocate its budget to meet policing priorities including any safeguards any criminality arising from protests. In 2025-26, the Scottish Government will increase police funding to £1.62 billion to support police capacity and capability. This includes almost £57 million in additional resource funding – an increase of 4% compared to 2024-25 published budget.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Operational decisions on matters such as this are for Police Scotland with oversight from the Scottish Police Authority. You may wish to contact them directly.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33681 on 27 January 2025. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The original basis for our National Treatment Centres (NTC) programme was to provide additional protected elective capacity and infrastructure to meet the needs of the elderly population. We opened two new NTCs in Fife and Highland in Spring 2023, while the NTC-Golden Jubilee Surgical Centre opened in August 2024 and the phased opening of NTC Forth Valley began in October 2024.

Since opening, NTC-Highland has provided hip and knee replacement surgery and cataract surgery for patients throughout NHS Highland, NHS Grampian and NHS Tayside. In 2025-26, capacity will also be provided to patients in NHS Shetland.

The NHS Golden Jubilee also continues to provide some key elective services to all Health Boards, including those with patients who live in remote and rural areas. This includes capacity for endoscopy, radiology, ophthalmology, general surgery, colorectal surgery and orthopaedic surgery.

In parallel with this, a number of ophthalmic surgeons are now undertaking sequential bilateral cataract surgery, particularly in remote and rural areas, to prevent patients having to travel twice for surgical intervention. This enables both cataract surgeries to be performed on the same day, one after the other, and ensures patient focussed holistic care is delivered. This also contributes to the net zero ambition of Scottish Government.

Finally, the Budget we set out on 4 December 2024 will deliver almost £200 million to reduce waiting lists and help support reduction of delayed discharge. By March 2026, we expect no one to be waiting longer than 12 months for a new outpatient, inpatient treatment or day case treatment. We want to make progress on improving our NHS, but to do that, Parliament must approve our Budget Bill which will drive the long-term and lasting improvements that we all want to see.