The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information regarding interim care plans.

In July 2022, I announced ambitious targets to eradicate long waits in planned care. This included a target to clear waits of over a year for an outpatient appointment in most specialities by the end of March 2023.

Significant work has already been progressed to identify immediate and longer term sustainable solutions to support NHS Boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, to clear their remaining long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic.

This includes mutual aid arrangements to clear the long waits within the Gastroenterology and Diabetes & Endocrinology services in NHS Ayrshire & Arran, and additional support for Dermatology and Ophthalmology.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery is also working with all Health Boards to accelerate implementation of high impact changes, including Active Clinical Referral Treatment and Patient Initiated Review. These improvement programmes will not only support delivery of the targets, but they will also provide sustainable solutions for the future.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government has provided over £660,000 additional funding to support diagnostic capacity nationally, and have ensured that the health budget for 2023-2024 exceeds £19 billion to support recovery and vital reform.

The Scottish Government is working with all NHS Boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, to clear long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic, and more recently the disruption caused by a very difficult winter.

Recent statistics show that NHS Ayrshire & Arran has made significant progress in reducing long waits for outpatients since the targets were announced in July 2022.

We continue to work closely with NHS Ayrshire & Arran to address the backlog of planned care. This includes mutual aid arrangements to clear long waits in Gastroenterology and Diabetes & Endocrinology services, and additional support for Dermatology and Ophthalmology.

The Centre for Sustainable Delivery (CfSD) is also working with Health Boards, including NHS Ayrshire & Arran, to accelerate implementation of high impact changes, including Active Clinical Referral Treatment and Patient Initiated Review. These improvement programmes will not only support delivery of the targets, but they will also provide sustainable solutions for the future.

We are working with CfSD and Health Boards to embed regional and national working to ensure that long waiting patients can access treatment more quickly.

The Scottish Government has continuous contact with Health Boards and has recently engaged with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on the provision of their Out of Hours services.

Despite the system wide pressures, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the figures published on 14 February 2023 report a decline in the number of GPs working in the service it is important to note that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

Additionally, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has advised that in the past 6 months they have successfully recruited 15 salaried doctors to the Out Of Hours service. The Board has provided assurance that this will increase the level of stability going forward.

Despite the system wide pressures, health boards continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the 2022 OOH workforce survey showed a decrease of around 97 whole time equivalent GP’s working in the service, it should be noted that the data collection was incomplete with not all Health Boards providing full returns so this figure should be approached with caution as it is not directly comparable with data from previous surveys.

It is also important to note the increased number of other professions which reflects that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

The Scottish Government has continuous engagement with Health Boards and has had recent contact with NHS Ayrshire & Arran on the provision of Out of Hours services.

The Board has advised that the medical workforce across Ayrshire Urgent Care Service (AUCS) has stabilised over recent years, establishing a core multi-disciplinary team using a mixed model of GP/Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANPs) for Out of Hours patient care.

Despite the system wide pressures, NHS Ayrshire & Arran continue to deliver a primary care out of hours service for the provision of urgent care when GP Practices are closed. Although the figures published on 14 February 2023 report a decline in the number of GPs working in the service it is important to note that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

It is also important to note the increased number of other professions which reflects that this service is now provided using a multi-disciplinary model which includes nurses, advanced nurse practitioners and paramedics.

The Statutory Guidance for the Scottish Welfare Fund sets out the responsibilities for Local Authorities in their administration of the Fund, including promotion and raising awareness across all potentially eligible individuals. This includes providing information on the Fund and making clear guidance available on how to apply for a grant. Local Authorities are also required to ensure that other services which have contact with people in crisis have up to date information about the Fund, including promotional posters and leaflets.

As recently indicated by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government in correspondence to the Committee for Social Justice and Social Security, the Independent Review of the Scottish Welfare Fund is due to publish soon and will inform next steps across a range of areas, including accessibility and promotion.

To support delivery of the National Infrastructure Mission we established the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland to provide long term strategic advice on national infrastructure priorities. Our infrastructure plans build on these recommendations and work is ongoing to develop our infrastructure improvement programme, through developing a new method of appraisal and prioritisation to ensure our infrastructure commitments match long-term goals and in preparing a cross-sector infrastructure needs assessment. This will ensure we are making the best capital investment decisions possible across the public sector to deliver on our ambitious programme for Scotland.

The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-25 sets out a hierarchy for infrastructure investment which aids decision making and planning on investment choices by encouraging maintenance and enhancement of existing assets over new assets, where appropriate. This Infrastructure Investment Plan sets maintenance and enhancement as a Scottish Government infrastructure priority and all public bodies, including Local Authorities can draw on this when making investment decisions. The Scottish Futures Trust and Scottish Government have jointly developed an Asset Strategy Guidance note to support the application of the infrastructure hierarchy (link Here ) and have developed a Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard to support the whole public sector in making good investment decisions. More information on the Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard can be found here: Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard and on the Infrastructure Investment Plan, here: Infrastructure Investment Plan for Scotland .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 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 .

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14838 on 9 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 .