Chamber and committees

As I have consistently stated and made clear to the three Ayrshire Council leaders when I have met them in recent months, I am fully committed to finding ways to support regional economies to thrive in Scotland. Together with Scottish Futures Trust and my officials, the Ayrshires are continuing to refine and prioritise their proposals for an Ayrshire Growth Deal. We will continue to explore their proposals in detail in the coming months and build on the work and strong partnership the Ayrshires have already established. I and the 3 Ayrshire Councils, have also made it clear that we would also welcome a commitment from the United Kingdom Government to support the Ayrshires Growth Deal aspirations.

The consultation on proposals for a new diet and obesity strategy will take place in Autumn 2017. It will run for a period of at least 12 weeks. I would encourage everyone with an interest in this issue to submit their views to the consultation, including existing stakeholders and all other private and public institutions with a close interest in this matter. We will also be running a number of events for stakeholder groups where we expect full and wide participation.

We will publish our final Diet and Obesity Strategy by Summer 2018.

Proposals to upgrade the Bellfield Interchange by installing traffic lights were considered, however they were rejected on the basis that if priority was given to traffic leaving the A77, this would result in longer queues on the other roads, which would have a negative impact on the local road network.

The East Ayrshire Local Development Plan was adopted on 3 April 2017 and includes actions for the Planning Authority (East Ayrshire Council) to progress studies to understand the impact of development on Bellfield Interchange over the coming years. I look forward to seeing this work progress through consultation with Transport Scotland and other relevant stakeholders.

Transport Scotland is programmed to install two vehicle activated signs in September on the southbound carriageway of the A77 to warn drivers of possible queuing traffic.

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing rates of physical activity. The Active Scotland Outcomes Framework sets out our ambitions for a more active Scotland, and is underpinned by a commitment to equality.

There are now more and better opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in sport and physical activity right across Scotland with 179 community sport hubs up and running. Over the last five years there has been an increase in community sport hubs members from 16,163 to 149,803 and a growth in hubs from 57 to 179. Clubs with six or more years’ experience as part of a CSH have seen a membership boost of 47 per cent. sportscotland is on course to reach the target of 200 hubs by 2020.

In addition, opportunities through Active Schools are helping our children and young people to be more physically active and providing great fun in the process. The number of visits to Active Schools sessions has grown by 52 per cent over the last five years, with 6.8 million visits in 2016-17, compared to 4.3 million in 2011-12. All 32 local authorities in Scotland are engaged in Active Schools and the network of Active Schools managers and coordinators are committed to understanding and meeting the specific needs of children and young people who may experience barriers to participation.

The current programme anticipates award of the main construction contract for the A77 Maybole Bypass in autumn 2018. Ground investigation works are anticipated to start later this year. Procurement of both contracts has commenced. The bypass will not be dualled, although increased overtaking opportunities will be provided on the new road in each direction.

The 5km scheme is considered to take the heavy traffic flow out of Maybole High Street, making for a safer environment for cyclists through Maybole. A footway/cycleway will be created to divert pedestrians and cyclists from the A77 into Maybole.

The Scottish Government will shortly take forward the “Programme for Government” commitment to commence work for the second Strategic Transport Projects Review in the Dumfries and Galloway area. This will include looking at access to the ports at Cairnryan and the A77 between Ayr and Cairnryan will be considered as part of the study.

The Scottish Government knows how important it is that patients have prompt access to services when needed and has put in place a national standard of 48 hour access, or advance booking, to an appropriate member of the GP practice team during core hours. That access can be either a face-to-face, or telephone consultation with a GP or nurse in the practice team.

Whilst Scottish Ministers set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, responsibility for service delivery rests locally with Health Boards and GP practices. Practices are contracted to provide general medical services by their local health board and not the Scottish Government. As such, Scottish Ministers are unable to intervene in the appointment arrangements of individual practices but they do except satisfactory systems to be in place for the benefit of all patients.

Practice partners are responsible for designing their own patient appointment and consultation arrangements to meet their service obligations. They are also responsible for ensuring that practice reception staff are appropriately trained in prioritising appointment requests and in handling these in accordance with practice procedures.

The eHealth Strategy 2014-2017 published by the Scottish Government in March 2014 commits to encouraging all GP practices in Scotland to offer repeat prescribing and appointment booking as online services, with a view to at least 90% of practices offering this service by the end of 2017.

To help GP practices achieve this goal and activate on line repeat prescriptions and appointment booking, the Scottish Government in 2016-17 and 2017-18 distributed £800,000 and £200,000 respectively from the Primary Care Digital Services Development Fund.

Promotion of the availability and use of online services to their patients is a matter for GP practices, with support provided by Health Board IT functions.

The Scottish Government are committed to investing an extra £250 million to support general practice per year by 2021, as part of a pledge to increase overall annual funding for primary care by £500 million by 2021.

To help the pressures that are placed upon GPs Shona Robison, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport announced additional investment of £71.6 million in general practice in March 2017, to help transform the way services are delivered in the community. The funds will support general practice in 2017-18, by improving recruitment and retention, reducing workload, developing new ways of delivering services and covering pay and expenses.

The Scottish Government are committed to delivering a model of sustainable general practice that is right both for the profession and for the health of the people of Scotland. We are working with GPs, through negotiations with the British Medical Association’s Scottish General Practice Committee, to reshape primary care and to ensure there is more multi-disciplinary working in surgeries, allowing GPs to focus where they are most needed.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information for independently contracted practices. It does expect patients to be offered an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days; the latest figures (Health & Care Experience Survey 2015-16) show that 91.8% of people were able to get a consultation within that time.

The figures on the percentage of patients in 2015-16 able to arrange an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days by Board are given in the following table: