Chamber and committees

The Scottish Respiratory Advisory Committee (SRAC) has identified pulmonary rehabilitation as one of the initial priorities for the implementation of the Respiratory Care Action Plan.

To take forward this key priority, a sub-group has been established comprised of clinical specialists and services managers from across Scotland, as well as third sector representatives. The group have completed a scoping exercise to determine areas of good practice and areas that require improvement. The aim of this group will be to develop ‘best practice guidelines’ for the delivery of pulmonary rehabilitation services across Scotland. This work is also being supported by the respiratory programmes managed by the Centre for Sustainable Delivery.

The necessary pause to face to face pulmonary rehab groups during the pandemic has inevitably led to a build-up of people waiting for treatment, and services continue to experience significant pressure as a result of this.

Our NHS Recovery Plan, published in August 2021, backed by over £1 billion of funding, sets out our vision for health and social care over the next 5 years, and will support the increase in access to services such as pulmonary rehabilitation.

The number of district nurses working in NHS Scotland in each of the last five years can be found on the TURAS NHS Education for Scotland workforce statistics site at NHS Scotland workforce | Turas Data Intelligence .

The Scottish Government does not direct NHS Boards to ensure that their district nurses and their teams undertake routine, planned visits to over 65s, however it is possible that such visits take place in some parts of the country. The roles of district nurses and their teams was described in the Transforming Roles District Nursing paper, which can be found here Supporting documents - Transforming nursing, midwifery and health professionals roles: district nursing roles - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The remit of the Women’s Health Champion is to drive change and share best practice and innovation in the improvement of health services and health outcomes for women. Professor Glasier will work with partners in the NHS and across the public and third sectors to drive forward the ambitions, aims and actions in the Women’s Health Plan. Professor Glasier’s particular priorities were set out in the recently published report on progress and include specialist menopause services, menstrual health with a focus on endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome, and heart health.

The Champion is a member of the Women's Health Plan Implementation Programme Board which has been established to oversee and drive the delivery of the Plan.

Professor Glasier is scheduled to attend the next Women’s Health Cross Party Group on 22 March 2023. In addition a number of introductory meetings with both individuals and organisations have already taken place, with more arranged for the coming weeks. Any requests should be directed to [email protected].

Once the Board has committed to follow the recommendations of the NDAP, the responsibility for doing so remains solely with the Board. The NDAP action plan was agreed locally in discussion with the NDAP team and Graham Construction. A tracker was developed which was worked on with these partners in a collaborative method to agree with the NDAP team when actions were closed and with NHS Grampian’s construction partners Graham Constructions, about actions that were to be developed and closed during the Stage 4 construction phase. Internal governance of this process has been led through the Baird and ANCHOR Project Board and onwards to the Board of NHS Grampian as required.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-15497 on 16 March 2023. 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

In common with all major health infrastructure projects, existing equipment will be transferred from the current sites and this will be supported by investment in new equipment. The Full Business Case identified a required capital budget for equipment of £14 million. So far, the procurement of equipment to date remains within budget and no additional funding has been requested by NHS Grampian.

The procurement of much of the required equipment will however not be completed until much closer to the operational date. The impact of inflation and in some cases availability of supply in the current market is a recognised risk across all capital projects. The Scottish Government will liaise closely with NHS Grampian to ensure that any emerging pressures on the equipment budget are managed appropriately.

On 24 February 2023 NHS Lanarkshire informed Scottish Government that they required funding of £193k to support their National Treatment Centre and this funding will be provided as it is an agreed national priority.

The Scottish Government do not publish NHSScotland Design Assessment Process (NDAP) reports, but they are available on request from the Health Board.

The 2025 target date for completion of the full programme represented an ambitious challenge. It was reliant on the timely and positive outcome of a range of factors such as completing public and stakeholder consultation; statutory approval processes; sufficiency of market capacity; supply chain availability and availability of funding, all of which have been significantly impacted by Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As I confirmed to Parliament on 8 February 2023, this has made the 2025 date unachievable.

Transport Scotland is urgently considering a range of different options to provide Ministers advice on the most efficient way in which to dual the remaining sections. Work to determine the most suitable procurement options for these sections is a complex exercise which looks at a number of factors including how the project can be delivered most efficiently by the industry, whilst minimising disruption to road users and helping to support economic recovery post-COVID. This work is expected to conclude in Autumn 2023 and I will provide an update on a new timescale for completion to the Scottish Parliament at that time.

(a) To date approximately 5-10% of tree tubes/guards have been removed where plants have established quickly due to local conditions. For the majority of the site, tree establishment has been slower, which is common for exposed roadside locations. It is anticipated that there will be an increase in the phased removal of the remaining guards over the next 2 years as the planting continues to establish and flourish.

(b) There are circa 1.5 million new trees planted alongside the AWPR. Since 2018 and 2019, when the various sections of AWPR were opened, the specialist landscape contractors have had teams of full-time personnel engaged year-round inspecting and maintaining the site. The landscape maintenance includes regular grass cutting, weed control and pruning to encourage growth.