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Community hospitals are an essential part of the health and social care system, providing a wide range of services. Where possible they should be embedded in local communities and when major service changes are proposed, the Scottish Government seeks assurances that local areas are following the processes outlined in our “Planning with People” guidance.

In the last five years multiple community hospitals have been closed, temporarily closed, or repurposed. As they are independently managed by IJBs, Scottish Government does not hold exact numbers for closures.

Importantly, closures do not always represent a reduction in capacity, in some cases resources are repurposed to support more people in their own homes.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving accessibility for all disabled people, including those with visual and hearing impairments.

Provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public to make a reasonable adjustment so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disabled people can access the service or facilities.

A number of actions across national partners, key public bodies and specialist agencies are already underway to enhance the accessibility of public spaces, ranging from culture through to transport.

This includes improving experiences at Visit Scotland spaces through enhanced support, resources, and advice to tourism and events organisations. Historic Environment Scotland also provide assistance through the provision of information in a range of alternative formats, such as large print site information, tactile models, audio tours, sensory tours and scented gardens.

Furthermore, Transport Scotland have taken measures to improve accessibility for pedestrians, including implementing the new dropped kerb scheme, increasing the number of dropped kerbs and tactile paving, providing enhanced support for those with visual impairments.

The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with partners and stakeholders to advance disability equality, ensuring that we effectively mitigate the barriers that affect the daily lives of disabled people

All nationally scaled up developments are subject to appropriate evaluation and equalities impact assessments.

The Scottish Government recognises the opportunities of digital options in health and social care, particularly in rural areas where such services can help to reduce travel and address potential inequality. The Digital Health and Care Strategy’s Delivery Plan 2024-25 sets out our priorities for implementation and references a number of examples that are already helping to address challenges.

Although these programmes are nationwide and not targeted specifically at rural communities, these examples are known to provide support:

• The online consultation service Near Me that provides flexibility and reduces the need for travel where people may face transport of financial pressures, saving an estimated 70 million travel miles to date. Now a mainstream service, it provides some 30,000 online consultations a month.
• The Connect Me self-monitoring service supports people at home, allowing them to provide information about their wellbeing through text message, an app, or online. The service has supported over 107,000 people with hypertension alone.
• Digital Mental Health services continue to offer additional support, with some 74,000 referrals in the past year.? These deliver a range of mental health therapies and increased access for those who wish to use them.

The Digital Health and Care Strategy’s Delivery Plan is monitored for progress through the year and will be updated for 2025-26.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government the member may wish to contact NHS Grampian directly for information.

The 2025-26 draft budget provides over £16.2 billion funding for NHS Boards, supporting services and including £1.34 billion funding for NHS Grampian - a real terms uplift.

In addition, increased capital investment of £139 million provides a 5% uplift to Boards’ core capital funding allocations as well as additional investment for priority maintenance and improvements across the NHS estate. To this end, we are working with all Boards, including NHS Grampian, to develop a whole-system NHS infrastructure plan which will support continued safe operation of existing facilities and inform longer-term investment priorities. The first part of this work – to assess immediate investment priorities across all Health Boards – is already well underway.

The Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme publishes annual data on incidence, cardiac interventions and patient outcomes across Scotland. The most recent reports are available here; Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme report 2023/2024 - Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme (SCAP) - Publications - Public Health Scotland.

The Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 and Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 have a focus on reducing inequities in access to cancer care and cancer outcomes.

The Scottish Government is looking to improve our understanding of outcomes of people with cancer living in rural and island communities. Examples include an independent evaluation of their experiences accessing cancer services, and a research programme on rural healthcare funded by the Chief Scientist Office.

The Scottish Diabetes Survey (SDS) collates data extracted from SCI-Diabetes database submitted by all 14 NHS boards and provides an annual summary of key issues and trends in diabetes care and treatment across Scotland. A link to the survey can be found at: Publications | diabetes in scotland.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S6W-33751 on 29 January 2025. 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-18931 on 21 June 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/questions-and-answers

The existing Scottish Government Records Management Health and Social Care Code of Practice (Scotland) 2024 has guidance on managing health records of people who identify as transgender. This links to guidance from the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, the General Medical Council and NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). It was recognised in 2020 that it was an area under development, and subsequently the Scottish Government's Chief Statistician issued guidance for public bodies on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2024 incorporates the Chief Statistician's guidance along with feedback from stakeholders, providing further guidance to NHS Boards.