Chamber and committees

NHS Highland has made sustained progress against the 15 recommendations set out in Sir Lewis Ritchie’s report. Most of the recommendations have now been fully implemented, with the remainder either partially implemented or progressed.

The nature of a small number of these recommendations, particularly those relating to workforce, housing, system resilience and partnership working, means that these are not finite end-points but areas requiring sustained focus and continuous improvement.

NHS Highland continues to work closely with local communities and stakeholders to build confidence and trust and to ensure that services evolve in line with local need and experience.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00537. on 8 June 2026. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found athttps://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Six GP walk-in centres are currently operational, with the first delivered in February. Three of those are already operating seven days a week, with the remainder open on a phased basis, but all will move to full hours in due course. The intention of a phased basis opening was to deliver new services as quickly as possible for patients.

As outlined in our manifesto, and as part of wider plans to support a just transition to net zero by 2045, the Scottish Government is committed to commissioning a feasibility study into the potential use of tram-trains on the South Suburban line in Edinburgh within the first 100 days of Government.

We are delivering at pace for Scotland, and will launch a public consultation on the retail display of vapes and nicotine products within our first 100 days in Government. This is part of our on-going implementation of the 2026 Tobacco and Vapes Act, and we will continue to work across the four nations where appropriate.

Decisions on further legislative restrictions on displays will be dependent on the outcome of this consultation.

Through targeted investment and service renewal, we will ensure no patient waits longer than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of this parliamentary term.

This follows a substantive and sustained period of improvement over the last year which saw waits over 52 weeks for New Outpatient decrease for 11 consecutive months and for Inpatient / Day-case by 15 months. We’re also seeing real progress in diagnostics, with activity in the latest quarter at its highest since reporting began in April 2024.

This progress was backed by more than £150 million additional funding in 2025-26, allocated to health boards to target the longest waits for planned care, and deliver on our Operational Improvement Plan commitment to provide an additional 150,000 appointments and procedures. The latest data show this target was surpassed with more than 168,000 additional appointments and procedures delivered.

We have already invested an additional £100 million this year to build on the progress made in the 2025-26 Operational Improvement Plan. We will build on this by creating additional capacity and deliver further reductions in waiting times, with a particular focus on those waiting the longest.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-00454 on 8 June 2026. 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.

To ensure capital funding is targeted effectively, we are working with all health boards to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan for Scotland, which will inform future investment priorities.

As part of this, we are taking forward a primary care infrastructure investment strategy, as set out in the Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline published on 13 January 2026. An initial tranche of 12 priority areas has been identified, based on health needs, population demographics and the condition of the existing estate, with work on three projects commencing immediately:

1. Port Glasgow; 2 East Calder and East Livingston; 3 Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly

Followed by:
•South/West Edinburgh
•Edinburgh City
•Cumbernauld area of Lanarkshire
•Hamilton area of Lanarkshire
•South Glasgow, Langside
•East Dunbartonshire
•West area of Ayr
•Inverness and Nairn
•Kincardine

This programme includes the development of a sustainable revenue funding model to support further investment in primary and community care infrastructure, including a network of local care and wellbeing centres across Scotland. To accelerate delivery, business case development and the revenue model will be progressed in parallel.

On current assumptions, construction is expected to begin from around 2031.

It remains an unwelcome reality that communities across Scotland experience health, quality of life and even life expectancy differently depending on their circumstances.

This information is not held centrally and we are unable to answer this question.