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Patient safety is our utmost concern and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that patients continue to receive high quality Out of Hours services. My officials have been in contact with NHS Dumfries and Galloway and have been advised that, on 26 September 2022, all shifts were filled and that the Out of Hours service was maintained through this time. I would expect that the Board continues to make every effort to fill all shifts to ensure the resilience of its Out of Hours service.

This information is not held centrally.

There are no GMS practices in Scotland without a partner and only a handful of 2C practices, mostly providing services to niche population groups, without a permanent GP.

The Scottish Government remains committed to reaching its target of eliminating Hepatitis C (HCV) in Scotland by 2024, whilst recognising the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had across all our health services.

In 2019, the Scottish Health Protection Network established the Hepatitis C Elimination Implementation Group to oversee and monitor the implementation of the Scottish Government’s Hepatitis C Elimination Strategy. Including hard to reach populations in efforts to eliminate Hepatitis C is fundamental to the Elimination Strategy, and this issue is therefore regularly considered by the Group, which meets four times per year. Along with representatives from Scottish Government, the Group is made up of clinicians, representatives from NHS health boards, and primary care and prevention leads.

In addition, in 2021 the Scottish Government provided funding to NHS Tayside to deliver the Cocoon project, which provided point of care BBV testing and treatment to people who inject drugs, whilst integrating wound care, naloxone provision and other harm reducing measures.

Students in further or higher education currently experiencing financial hardship should apply to their college or university for support from Discretionary Funds. We have provided £16.8m in hardship funding for the current academic year to support higher education students experiencing financial hardship, in addition to free tuition in Scotland and a range of bursary support.

I have urged college and university principals to continue to prioritise hardship funds to students most in need, taking account the impact of rising energy bills.

Patient safety is our utmost concern and the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that patients continue to receive high quality Out of Hours services. Officials work closely with Out of Hours services across Scotland, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway to support them in delivering a safe, resilient and sustainable service. Whilst the Out of Hours service in NHS Dumfries & Galloway remains under pressure – as it does across Scotland – the Scottish Government receives regular assurances that there are robust arrangements in place to maintain a safe Out of Hours service and that the Board are working to make the service more resilient for the future. This includes the recent recruitment of two salaried GPs and a sessional GP. I understand that the Board are also working with Scottish Ambulance Service to recruit Advanced Paramedic Practitioners.

The Scottish Government does not currently hold information on cessation support services, available in each NHS board area. However, The Scottish Government are developing an expert group that will be reporting on smoking cessation services early next year. We are also committed to working with our NHS cessation coordinators and pharmacy colleagues across Scotland to refocus and remobilise these services to ensure we are reaching those in our communities who are in most need of support to quit.

In addition, we encourage anyone wishing to stop smoking to contact the free NHS stop smoking service: 'Quit Your Way Scotland' helpline on 0800 84 84 84 to speak to an advisor. Alternatively, local pharmacies can also offer a range of therapies and interventions to help quit tobacco products.

SEPA’s grant in aid funding from Scottish Government has increased over the last five-year period from £34,936,000 to £41,406,000. SEPA determine the amount of resources allocated to water quality testing through their Annual Operating Plan in each year in agreement with the Scottish Government

SEPA Grant in Aid Funding

£34,963,000 in 2018-19

£34,425,000 in 2019-20

£37,098,000 in 2020-21

£44,449,000 in 2021-22

£41,406,000 in 2022-23

The Scottish Government understands the important issue of emerging contaminates of concern and has been funding research in this area since 2016 through strategic research at the James Hutton Institute, the Centre of Expertise on Water (CREW), and the Hydro Nation Scholars programme. For example, these studies produced the first national assessment of pharmaceutical pollution in Scotland’s water environment, published in 2022, covering existing data on 60 pharmaceuticals between 2014 and 2019.

Building on the earlier studies described above, the Scottish Government continues to support active research, by investing £32m per year overall, under the current RESAS Strategic Research Programme 2022-2027, and the Centre of Expertise on Water. Current plans include work which will further develop the understanding of sources and levels of emerging contaminants in Scotland’s freshwaters and river sediments and recommend priorities and strategic approaches for future monitoring in Scotland.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is currently trialling a new water analysis technique and is considering which chemicals of emerging concern to Scotland’s environment should be built into its surveillance network. SEPA is working with various UK partner organisations to identify and prioritise chemicals of emerging concern in the environment.

For example, Scottish Water has worked in partnership with the SEPA for many years in the Chemical Investigation Programme (Scotland). Through environmental investigation this project identifies contaminants of concern, their sources and concentrations leaving the sewerage system and how they should be addressed in the most sustainable way.

The Remote and Rural General Practice Working Group was created in 2018 to support the implementation of the GP Contract in remote and rural areas. It met between 2018 and 2022. In 2020, the Group put forward recommendations to Ministers which are contained within its Shaping the Future Together Report. The Group last met on the 9 th June 2022 and agreed to bring the Group to an end.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting and developing rural general practice and primary care. In terms of planned developments, The Scottish Government is working to develop a Remote and Rural workforce recruitment strategy by the end of 2024. This will support employers to ensure that the Health and Social Care needs of people who live in remote and rural communities are met. In addition, The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 included a commitment to create a centre of excellence for rural and remote medicine and social care, with scoping work starting in 2021-22. The Scottish Government has been working closely with NHS Education Scotland (NES) over recent months to carry out extensive scoping and consultation with stakeholders. NES has submitted a business case for the Centre. The Scottish Government is evaluating the business case and considering next steps.

We are already taking forward a range of initiatives to support recruitment and retention of workforce in rural General Practice. The Golden Hello scheme offers a one-off bursary of £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post in a remote and rural area. Furthermore, ScotGEM is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree which began in 2018, with a focus on rural medicine and healthcare improvement, supporting graduates to choose careers in general practice. The Scottish Government is also supporting an initiative by the four rural boards in the north of Scotland, NHS Shetland, NHS Orkney, NHS Highland and NHS Western Isles who have piloted an innovative recruitment campaign called Rediscover The Joy (RTJ). RTJ aims to recruit experienced GPs to provide support for remote and rural practices.

This information is publicly available and can be found on the website of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service - https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/fatal-accident-inquiries