Chamber and committees

Scottish Government does not hold information centrally on public transport to health facilities.

The Scottish Government's Transport to Health delivery plan aims to ensure access to healthcare facilities is fully considered within regional and local planning, including planning for our rural communities.

Our vision is that all disabled people can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens. The Accessible Travel Framework launched in 2016, is focused on improving the overall journey experience for disabled people by removing the barriers which prevent them travelling.

The delivery plan for 2024-2026 has been published in early October 2024. This covers delivery for the final two years of the Framework, and includes Transport to Health as a workstream.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. You should contact the Scottish Ambulance Service directly.

The Scottish Government’s role is to set the strategic policy for the NHS in Scotland, NHS Boards are responsible for service delivery. All Health Boards should consider patient transport needs when they plan and deliver services.

On 30 October, the Scottish Government published the Transport to Health delivery plan which sets out commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health and Social Care and Transport Scotland. The plan was informed by the 2019 Transport to health and social care report prepared by the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) on behalf of Ministers.

As set out in the plan, we will continue to use the NHS annual delivery plans to re-emphasise the need for Health Boards to consider patient access as part of the care pathway and reflecting the opportunity that is emerging for reducing the number of patient journeys through alternative options.

All referrals to the hospital eye service from community optometry are electronic and enable the attachment of retinal images and other examination results to aid the triaging of the patients. In addition, since the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government has facilitated the use of technology to support remote consultations under General Ophthalmic Services which is likely to be of particular benefit to patients living in rural areas. The cloud-based national Electronic Patient Record is also being used by community optometrists providing the Community Glaucoma Service - an important technological initiative supporting safe and high quality care.

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.

NHS Board’s baseline revenue allocations are set out annually in the Scottish Budget, as published on the Scottish Government’s website. In addition, resource and capital spending limits are reported in Board’s annual accounts, which are published on their websites.

The Scottish Government allocates funding to territorial NHS Boards based on the NRAC formula. The NRAC formula takes into account factors in addition to population levels, including excess costs of delivering healthcare in remote and rural areas.

Since 2006-07, baseline funding for health and social care has increased by 120% in cash terms and 37% in real terms.

Since 2012-13, over £3.5 billion of additional funding has been committed to those NHS Boards below their NRAC parity levels, ensuring all Boards remain within 0.6% of parity.

More information on the NRAC formula is available at: Resource Allocation Formula in Scotland - Finance - Data & intelligence from PHS (isdscotland.org)

Telemedicine can describe a range of different digital solutions to support consultations and engagement with the NHS. As a result, it is not possible for the Scottish Government to set out a conclusive percentage.

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

On 30 October, the Scottish Government published the Transport to Health delivery plan which sets out commitments against transport and healthcare across the work of Health and Social Care and Transport Scotland. The plan was informed by the 2019 Transport to health and social care report prepared by the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) on behalf of Ministers.

As set out in the plan, we will support Regional Transport Partnerships to develop their own plans around Transport to Health. An example of this will be continuing to support the work of the Health and Transport Action Plan led by NESTRANS and partners in Aberdeenshire.

Transport Scotland have included Transport to Health as one of seven thematic workstreams in their approach for delivery of the Accessible Travel Framework.

Through the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care, housed within NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Government are supporting the health workforce in rural and island areas.

A detailed programme of monthly rural specific training sessions are being delivered for multi-disciplinary rural practitioners online to ensure access for the widest group of rural practitioners across Scotland.

New rural specific training programmes are being developed and delivered to support the specific needs of the remote and rural Primary Care and community services workforce. Current programmes of work include focused support and training for remote and rural dispensing practices, new resources being developed to support Primary Care professionals to become trainers within the community and Primary Care Practice settings for Advanced Nurse, Pharmacy, and Practice Nurse Practitioners.