Chamber and committees

NHS Dumfries & Galloway has advised there is always GP out-of-hours cover provided across the region. Dumfries & Galloway operates 3 Out of Hours Hubs across the region, in Dumfries, Stranraer and the Machars. On the occasions when Dumfries has no Out of Hours GP cover, the GP in Stranraer triages calls and vice versa. Stranraer provides support to the Machars when there is no out-of-hours GP available.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway will put in place a number of contingency plans when no GP is available in a particular area, which include liaising with accident and emergency departments and re-triaging patients to a more appropriate place for support and treatment.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway has established a transforming urgent care working group to improve the current staffing situation which includes using advanced nurse practitioners, specialist paramedics and prescribing pharmacists to provide care to those patients where it would be appropriate to do so.

The Scottish Government is aware of challenges in recruiting GPs to work in out-of-hours services across Scotland, including within NHS Dumfries and Galloway. 

Scottish Government officials regularly attend the monthly National Out-of-Hours Operations Group, which is attended by both NHS Board clinical and management leads where any local out-of-hours service issues are raised.

28 days.  

Since 2007 over £40m has been spent maintaining the A76. This includes the recent delivery of schemes as follows;

A76 Skerrington Roundabout to Cairn Road Overbridge (£361k)

• A76 Templeton RBT to Little Heateth (£864k)

• A76 North of Barleith to Bellfield Rbt (£227k)

• A76 Barleith (£162k)

Patching works are also planned for the A76 at Dalpedder and Overcairn Farm before the end of the current financial year. In the 2018-19 financial year, there are several major re-surfacing schemes programmed as follows;

A76 Horsecleugh Underpass to Glenramskill Avenue (£296k)

• A76 Crockroy to High Cairn (£237k)

• A76 Pennylands Burn to Barony Rd Underbridge (£428k)

• A76 Holywood Station (£147k)

• A76 North of Barburgh Quarry (£176k)

The trunk road network covers approximately 3500 km and as Minister for Transport and the Islands I do not personally carry out a first hand inspection of the trunk road network.

Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies have a contractual obligation to inspect the trunk road network at 7-day intervals. These inspections are primarily to identify defects that require prompt attention (Category 1 defects) because they present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users. For road surface Category 1 defects, the Operating Companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days.

Lesser defects and general deterioration which do not necessitate such an immediate safety-led response are then considered with findings from annual condition assessments of the network to help determine future maintenance schemes. These include assessments of the strength of the road depth and also road surface conditions (including skid resistance). Resultant schemes may include localised patching repairs or larger maintenance schemes, which are then considered against competing priorities across the trunk road network and programmed accordingly.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that further work is needed to address this issue. The British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan 2017-2023, published in October 2017, outlines 10 long-term goals and a total of 70 actions, including exploring the further work needed to ensure that a strong and skilled pool of BSL/English interpreters are working efficiently across Scotland. Furthermore, the Scottish Government has introduced the first nationally funded public sector online BSL interpreting Video Relay Service in the UK called contactSCOTLAND-BSL, which provides Deaf BSL users with access to public and voluntary services in Scotland, benefitting rural areas greatly and in line with our Digital Strategy.

We work closely with all NHS boards to support their recruitment efforts and assist them in meeting their obligations to deliver safe and effective services.

Under this Government, whole-time equivalent staffing in NHS Dumfries and Galloway has increased by nearly 5%. Equally, the consultant workforce has grown by over 8%.

Nevertheless, we recognise that there continue to be difficulties in recruiting to certain clinical posts, as a result of efforts to expand capacity. Not only are we investing in training more doctors and nurses at home, we are also supporting new approaches to recruiting medical specialists. This includes a national campaign to recruit consultant grade radiologists, due to launch next month; NHS Dumfries and Galloway will be one of 11 health boards participating in this new national pilot.

Within Scottish Waters, if a programme of commercial scale proposed tidal lagoon developments is identified that is not included in the National Marine Plan, Scottish Ministers would consider the need to produce a Sectoral Marine Plan, incorporating the relevant Strategic Environmental Assessment requirements and other relevant strategic assessment requirements. If an individual application for a proposed tidal lagoon development that is not included in the National Marine Plan is made, it would be considered in relation to relevant consenting and licensing procedures administered by Marine Scotland.

It is matter for each Health and Social Care Partnership to agree levels of service provision in order to meet the needs of their local communities and to review local services to ensure they are fit for purpose.

I understand a multi-agency Project Board has been set up to review short break services across the Dumfries & Galloway region and no decision has been taken with regard to future short break provision.

Transport Scotland’s asset investment planning models use information from inspections and surveys undertaken to identify the number of trunk road assets, and assess their current condition. In line with recognised good practice, the condition of the network for future years is predicted based on a series of deterioration curves, and the quantity of network requiring treatment in any given year can be determined. Predictions of expenditure are made for each year under various categories, such as Operating Company Area, road class, and for broad treatment types.

A technical report explaining how the asset investment planning model is used to calculate a backlog figure for trunk road carriageways is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib No. 59463). Further information on asset investment planning is provided in Chapter 5 of the Road Asset Management Plan (RAMP), published January 2016. This can be accessed at https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/32978/j408891.pdf

The Scottish Ambulance Service is considering options for Kirkconnel ambulance station as it currently requires significant works to bring it up to an acceptable standard of accommodation to provide adequate facilities for the male and female members of staff that operate at this location. The service is considering whether it is feasible and also would represent value for money to undertake the required refurbishment or whether to seek an alternative base in line with the Scottish Ambulance Service’s estate strategy. The Scottish Ambulance Service has said that no decision has been taken to relocate the base location from Kirkconnel. Ambulance base locations are normally placed on the basis of demand patterns and any change of base location would also be in line with its estate strategy and that any change to the location (town or village) of any ambulance station would always involve a public consultation with the communities.