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The Scottish Government recognises that long waits can have an impact on health and wellbeing. Waiting well | NHS inform on NHS Inform provides patients with information to support their health and wellbeing while waiting for health and social care services. This includes information on physical and mental health, as well as advice about practical issues like money worries.

We know many people are still waiting too long and this is not good enough. We are determined do more and our Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health and social care, with more than £110 million allocated to health boards to help tackle the longest waits for procedures and operations.

The funding has been assigned to specialty areas for the year ahead where it can have the greatest impact against the longest waits. This includes more than £12 million for ophthalmology.

The Scottish Government is responsible for setting the overall policy direction of health services, and for working with and funding NHS Boards and local authorities to ensure they plan and deliver appropriate local services. However, it is the responsibility of local Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs) to put in place services to meet local needs, including assessment and access to treatment and support for ADHD.

Health Boards and HSCPs are accountable for the delivery of their services locally. The Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 and supporting legislation, provides a specific right for people to make complaints, raise concerns, make comments and give feedback. The Act also places a duty on NHS Boards to thoroughly investigate and respond to any concerns raised, to take improvement actions where appropriate and to share learning from feedback received. When a person has concerns about their treatment or care, this should be addressed at a local level through the NHS complaints handling procedure. When that is not possible, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) is the second and final stage in the complaints process.

Scottish Government officials also engage regularly with Health Boards and HSCPs to discuss the delivery of services.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that the replacement of the Edinburgh eye pavilion is a strategic priority, and the 2025-26 Budget provides the necessary funding to allow the development of the business case.

NHS Lothian has been asked to progress the business case and development of the design and timeline will form part of this work, which will take time. During an update to stakeholders in March, NHS Lothian advised an estimated timeline of 6 years.

It is usual for the business case process, construction and commissioning to take a number of years and there will be greater clarity on timeline once the business case process is complete.

I have met with all NHS Boards to discuss long waits across all planned care specialities including ophthalmology.

The National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People sets out the seven standards for all services to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs, including ADHD. The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to publish specific minimum standards for ADHD post-diagnostic support.

The number of ophthalmology trainees recorded as of July 28, 2025, and from 2015 has been provided in the following table.

We expect NatureScot’s work to progress the Scotland’s Great Trails brand to a new model will to be concluded in late 2026.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to develop a standard post-diagnostic support pathway for ADHD. The National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People sets out the standards for all services to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs, including ADHD. The Scottish Government is also working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways.

In addition, local authorities have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act (Scotland) 2004 to identify, provide for and review the additional needs of their pupils. Under the Act an additional support need can arise for any reason and a diagnosis of ADHD is not required before support is put in place.

The Scottish Government is clear that support should be put in place to meet a child’s requirements when they need it. This includes community-based supports and where additional support is needed for learning. However, we recognise that in the case of ADHD, medication can be helpful, and a diagnosis is required to access this. We are working with Boards to ensure that children, young people and adults can access diagnostic services in a timely manner.

I recognise that there has been a significant increase in children and adults seeking ADHD assessments across Scotland, and that this is creating challenges for a range of services.

The Scottish Government is working with the National Autism Implementation Team (NAIT) to develop national Adult Neurodevelopmental Pathways, building on the pilots we funded in four NHS Board areas and the subsequent learning and recommendations.

We are also continuing to work with NHS Health Boards, including NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and local authorities to support implementation of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification for Children and Young People. We have recently undertaken a review of the implementation of the Specification and established a new Neurodevelopment Taskforce to drive forward identified recommendations.

In addition to investment through Health Boards, we will also be providing £500,000 additional funding in 2025-26 to improve access to neurodevelopmental support for children and young people, including for ADHD assessments. This is in addition to £250,000 provided in 2024-25, which funded a range of individual projects to improve neurodevelopmental assessment and support for children and young people, including projects that support ADHD diagnosis.

The Scottish Government does not currently have any plans to publish a national ADHD strategy.

However, the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill consulted on proposals to introduce a National Strategy for Learning Disabilities and Neurodivergence, supported by local strategies and/or local delivery plans and underpinned by Statutory Guidance. Proposals also included requirements for regular reviews of both national and local strategies, the involvement of lived experience in the development of these strategies and an accountability mechanism to measure effectiveness of strategies.

We have been committed to taking a human rights-based approach to this legislation. This means that the consultation was fully co-designed with people with lived experience via the Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP).

The public consultation closed on 21 April 2024 and received nearly 900 responses during the four months that it was open. This demonstrates the relevance and importance of this legislation for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government is continuing work to develop the proposals for the LDAN Bill, and is committed to publishing draft provisions. As before, we will work in partnership with the LEAP members whose support has been invaluable, and the LEAP will be at the heart of our process. In addition, we will meet with individual organisations with an interest whenever that is helpful.