Chamber and committees

The migration programme to the Vision 3 system on a hosted environment began in July 2022 .Following the administration of In Practice Systems Ltd (INPS) and subsequent asset purchase by OneAdvanced, migrations restarted in December 2025. We have provided data from 9 December 2025, when OneAdvanced took over support desk arrangements, to 23 August 2026 showing the number of calls logged to the service help desk broken down by Health Board area.

There were 2,658 issues logged with OneAdvanced .These ranged from routine requests, such as password resets, to more significant issues, including system slowness and disconnections, and include reports from long-term Vision users, new users and recently migrated practices.

The highest numbers of issues were recorded in NHS Lothian (580), NHS Grampian (483), NHS Lanarkshire (469), NHS Tayside (403), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (372) and NHS Highland (196). Other NHS Boards reported NHS Forth Valley (70), NHS Dumfries and Galloway (59), NHS Orkney (10), NHS Borders (5), NHS Western Isles (4) and NHS Ayrshire and Arran (3) issues. No issues were recorded for NHS Fife, while Public Services Delivery Scotland recorded 2 issues.

The University Hospital Crosshouse, Kilmarnock and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, and Victoria Hospital, Fife and Edinburgh Royal Infirmary have been working under this model as early implementers since 2019. It is important that we assure a managed transition to the new model taking learning from the early adopters, to allow safe and effective implementation within Scotland.

To support governance and consistent implementation of the Neonatal Service Change in Scotland national work has moved to the Sub National Planning and Delivery Committee. They are actively considering ongoing actions to deliver the change in practice, following further modelling work. We continue to work with the Regional Chief Executives and NHS Boards to continue to implement this service change.

I must be absolutely clear, the vast majority of sick babies will continue to be cared for in local neonatal units. Local Neonatal Units will continue to provide a level of intensive care and be able to care for singleton births over 27 weeks gestation.

As Scotland has some of the best universities in the world, the adoption and commercial application of their research sits at the heart of our ambitions for economic growth.

Last year we piloted a £2.9m Proof of Concept Fund to focus on strengthening the pipeline of Scottish research capable of generating economic value. Following the success of the pilot fund, a second round of the fund with a total value of £2.92m has been launched this year, with successful projects expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

This year we increased the investment in core research and innovation funding by £26.8m to £355m, signalling our ongoing commitment to research excellence and its role in boosting the economy. This includes an uplift of £30 million for the Knowledge Exchange and Innovation Fund which is designed to support university-business interactions.

We also continue to fund a portfolio of knowledge exchange and innovation investments to strengthen collaboration been university and academia, including a combined £15.4m this year to the Innovation Centres, Interface, Converge and Alliances for Research Challenges.

Scottish Government increased its investment in the NHS Scotland Innovation Hubs by a further £300,000 to support business development activity and aid in the delivery of Scotland's Life Sciences Strategy. These Hubs have a core remit to bring together academia, industry, third sector and the NHS to develop, test, evaluate and commercialise new technologies and treatments, and act as a part in the broader NHS innovation ecosystem with the Centre for Sustainable Delivery and the Accelerated National Innovation Adoption Pathway.

Workforce planning is undertaken collaboratively with NHS boards and relevant stakeholders, and officials continue to assess workforce capacity, recruitment and training requirements to ensure services can meet demand.

While no formal assessment has been made of the number of hearing care professionals required to reduce waiting lists, the Scottish Government remains committed to supporting the healthcare science workforce and has set out strategic direction for the profession, focused on education, workforce development, and the quality and safety of services. This is further supported by work being taken forward by Public Services Delivery Scotland, focused on mapping the skills and competencies required across healthcare science specialisms to inform future workforce planning.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring audiology services have sufficient workforce capacity required to meet service demand, both now and into the future. We continue to work closely with NHS boards and other partners to improve audiology services across Scotland and determine how best to move the provision of audiology care into community settings, aligned to strategic ambitions. On 27 August 2026, I wrote to the Health, Care and Sport Committee to provide an update on my meeting with NHS Heads of Service, community audiology providers and other key stakeholders as part of this government’s 100 days prospectus. This meeting centred on a draft proposal for development of a Target Operating Model for audiology, and my letter sets out more detail on the Scottish Government’s immediate priorities for audiology services. It can be read in full here: 20260827 Minister for Community Care to Convener | Scottish Parliament Website

As indicated in Parliamentary Question S7W-01610 on 5 August 2026, the Long Term Conditions Advisory Groups, were established under the previous government to provide recommendations to inform our way forward for long term conditions. It is for Scottish Ministers to decide whether and to what extent any of the recommendations become government policy. We are carefully considering these recommendations as we develop this work.

We are grateful to all members of the Advisory Groups for their involvement in developing these recommendations and continue to engage with the Advisory Groups as this work develops.

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 Scottish Government has committed to a review of the Patient Travel Reimbursement Scheme guidance. No further details are available at this stage as the work on determining scope, terms of reference and timings have still to take place.

Scottish Government engages with a range of stakeholders on matters relating to children and young people with cancer, These stakeholders include third sector organisations, the Managed Clinical Network for Children and Young People (MCN CYPC) and other clinical specialists as well as lived experience groups, who support and deliver cancer services for children and young people with cancer.

The Scottish Government has committed to a review of the Patient Travel Reimbursement Schemes guidance. However, as the scope, timing, and governance of the review have not yet been agreed and no start date has been confirmed, it is not currently possible to provide details of any wider reform programme that the review may inform or support, or when the work is expected to conclude.

The Scottish Government will provide further information on the review, including its remit and timescales, once these have been established.

The Scottish Government's approach to media buying is to ensure that channel selection is driven by evidence of what most effectively reaches and engages target audiences, rather than by specifying particular media channels within contracts.

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-02200 on 31 August 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.

Social value considerations did form part of the considerations for the Media Planning and Buying Framework.