Local authorities undertake regular safety inspections of public roads in order to comply with their statutory duties in terms of maintenance and safety. The Scottish Local Government Benchmarking Framework gives details of the condition of the local authority road network.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway has advised there is always GP out-of-hours cover provided across the region. Dumfries & Galloway operates 3 Out of Hours Hubs across the region, in Dumfries, Stranraer and the Machars. On the occasions when Dumfries has no Out of Hours GP cover, the GP in Stranraer triages calls and vice versa. Stranraer provides support to the Machars when there is no out-of-hours GP available.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway will put in place a number of contingency plans when no GP is available in a particular area, which include liaising with accident and emergency departments and re-triaging patients to a more appropriate place for support and treatment.

NHS Dumfries & Galloway has established a transforming urgent care working group to improve the current staffing situation which includes using advanced nurse practitioners, specialist paramedics and prescribing pharmacists to provide care to those patients where it would be appropriate to do so.

28 days.  

Since 2007 over £40m has been spent maintaining the A76. This includes the recent delivery of schemes as follows;

A76 Skerrington Roundabout to Cairn Road Overbridge (£361k)

• A76 Templeton RBT to Little Heateth (£864k)

• A76 North of Barleith to Bellfield Rbt (£227k)

• A76 Barleith (£162k)

Patching works are also planned for the A76 at Dalpedder and Overcairn Farm before the end of the current financial year. In the 2018-19 financial year, there are several major re-surfacing schemes programmed as follows;

A76 Horsecleugh Underpass to Glenramskill Avenue (£296k)

• A76 Crockroy to High Cairn (£237k)

• A76 Pennylands Burn to Barony Rd Underbridge (£428k)

• A76 Holywood Station (£147k)

• A76 North of Barburgh Quarry (£176k)

The trunk road network covers approximately 3500 km and as Minister for Transport and the Islands I do not personally carry out a first hand inspection of the trunk road network.

Transport Scotland’s Operating Companies have a contractual obligation to inspect the trunk road network at 7-day intervals. These inspections are primarily to identify defects that require prompt attention (Category 1 defects) because they present, or could present, an immediate hazard to road users. For road surface Category 1 defects, the Operating Companies are required to carry out temporary repairs by 6am the following morning and permanent repairs within 28 days.

Lesser defects and general deterioration which do not necessitate such an immediate safety-led response are then considered with findings from annual condition assessments of the network to help determine future maintenance schemes. These include assessments of the strength of the road depth and also road surface conditions (including skid resistance). Resultant schemes may include localised patching repairs or larger maintenance schemes, which are then considered against competing priorities across the trunk road network and programmed accordingly.

The Scottish Government is aware of challenges in recruiting GPs to work in out-of-hours services across Scotland, including within NHS Dumfries and Galloway. 

Scottish Government officials regularly attend the monthly National Out-of-Hours Operations Group, which is attended by both NHS Board clinical and management leads where any local out-of-hours service issues are raised.

50 additional widening access places. Additionally, the ScotGEM programme will provide 55 new places, with a particular focus on working in remote and rural areas across Scotland; over the next 10 years this will generate an additional 330 medical graduates. Furthermore, through our National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan we have committed to providing up to 100 additional medical places by the end of this parliament.

The Scottish Government acknowledges that further work is needed to address this issue. The British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan 2017-2023, published in October 2017, outlines 10 long-term goals and a total of 70 actions, including exploring the further work needed to ensure that a strong and skilled pool of BSL/English interpreters are working efficiently across Scotland. Furthermore, the Scottish Government has introduced the first nationally funded public sector online BSL interpreting Video Relay Service in the UK called contactSCOTLAND-BSL, which provides Deaf BSL users with access to public and voluntary services in Scotland, benefitting rural areas greatly and in line with our Digital Strategy.

We work closely with all NHS boards to support their recruitment efforts and assist them in meeting their obligations to deliver safe and effective services.

Under this Government, whole-time equivalent staffing in NHS Dumfries and Galloway has increased by nearly 5%. Equally, the consultant workforce has grown by over 8%.

Nevertheless, we recognise that there continue to be difficulties in recruiting to certain clinical posts, as a result of efforts to expand capacity. Not only are we investing in training more doctors and nurses at home, we are also supporting new approaches to recruiting medical specialists. This includes a national campaign to recruit consultant grade radiologists, due to launch next month; NHS Dumfries and Galloway will be one of 11 health boards participating in this new national pilot.

Within Scottish Waters, if a programme of commercial scale proposed tidal lagoon developments is identified that is not included in the National Marine Plan, Scottish Ministers would consider the need to produce a Sectoral Marine Plan, incorporating the relevant Strategic Environmental Assessment requirements and other relevant strategic assessment requirements. If an individual application for a proposed tidal lagoon development that is not included in the National Marine Plan is made, it would be considered in relation to relevant consenting and licensing procedures administered by Marine Scotland.

It is matter for each Health and Social Care Partnership to agree levels of service provision in order to meet the needs of their local communities and to review local services to ensure they are fit for purpose.

I understand a multi-agency Project Board has been set up to review short break services across the Dumfries & Galloway region and no decision has been taken with regard to future short break provision.