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It is the responsibility of the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that response times are as quick as possible, regardless of geography.

The Scottish Ambulance Service completed a full review of Demand and Capacity across Scotland at the end of 2019 which involved looking at demand data and resources to predict current and future demand and map out the levels of staff and vehicles required across different parts of Scotland. The outcome of the review saw an increase in resourcing and staffing in both urban and rural areas across Scotland.

Challenges in delivering healthcare vary across Scotland due to population needs, as a result there is not a one-size fits all solution.

Work is already underway to progress reforms to ensure long-term sustainability, reduce health inequalities, deliver services closer to home, further harness the benefits of digital technology, and improve population health outcomes in Scotland.

To support sustainability of acute health services within remote, rural and island communities, we have convened an NHS Board-led working group which is working to develop a framework for delivery of health services in rural and island areas and considering how best to deliver the right care in the right place.

This group will determine a framework for the delivery of sustainable care for our rural and island communities, supporting effective local decision making while allowing service design and delivery to be adapted to place-specific needs and circumstances.

The Scottish Government published our Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033 along with an initial three year Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023 – 2026 in June 2023. Over a 10-year period, our strategic aim is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care.

The strategy and plan have a focus on reducing inequities in access to cancer care and cancer outcomes. This means treatment and care will be equally good wherever anyone lives and whoever they are. Actions to tackle inequalities are incorporated into other ambitions in the action plan.

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

The Scottish Government is committed to developing a sustainable health and social care system that ensures people get the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

Our vision is for ‘a Scotland where people live longer, healthy and fulfilling lives.’ is supported by four key areas of work: improving population health, a focus on prevention and early intervention, providing quality services, and maximising access, all underpinned by a person-centred approach.

The majority of health boards across Scotland have all, or some of their constituent population in a rural area. Health Boards and Health and Social Care Partnerships take account of the diverse needs of their populations and plan their service provision according to that need.

Officials engage with Health Boards and HSCPs on a regular basis to review health outcomes.

Within our 24/25 Programme for Government we committed to working across the four nations on banning the sale of single use vapes (SUV) as well as the UK Tobacco and Vapes Bill.

SUV’s have been linked to a rapid increase in the number of young people vaping, particularly due to their low price. The SUV ban will be implemented from 1 June 2025 in line with the rest of the UK.

If passed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, will restrict the promotion, advertisement and brand sharing of vapes.

Our Scotland-wide ‘Take Hold’ marketing campaign educated parents, carers and children about the dangers of vaping and increased the awareness of the harms and risks of nicotine addiction. It also contained a school toolkit.

We continue to work with Young Scot to support young people to understand the risks of using tobacco and nicotine products, and raise awareness of available cessation services and avenues to support young people to stop smoking/vaping.

Through implementation of the Women’s Health Plan we have established an NHS Board Women’s Health Lead Network with a Lead in every NHS Board. The Network enables the Leads to identify both common and local challenges and exchange ideas on innovation and best practice, along with discussions on progress to implement the Women’s Health Plan.

We have a clinical Menopause Specialists Network, which enables clinicians across Scotland with an interest in menopause care to share initiatives and good practice and discuss emerging challenges encouraging consistency of advice which can then be shared with local primary care teams.

We also established a National Menstrual Health Clinical Network to provide clinicians across Scotland with access to peer support, consistent expert clinical advice and facilitate further learning opportunities.

Further information about the progress to date against each of the priorities in the Women’s Health Plan can be found in the Women’s Health Plan Final Report.

This year we invested £30m which is driving targeted action to address the longest delays. This will see around 24,000 New Outpatient Appointments and Inpatient/ Day-Case procedures as well as over 40,000 diagnostic procedures. The funding has included diagnostic services in NHS Grampian, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney.

Public Health Scotland publishes annual data on NHS eye examination on their website at: https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ophthalmic-workload-statistics/ophthalmic-workload-statistics-statistics-as-at-year-ending-31-march-2024/.

Figure 5b of that report provides data on referrals from community optometry to the hospital eye service.

Funding is provided to Network Rail, ScotRail Trains Limited, Scottish Rail Holdings Limited and Caledonian Sleeper to facilitate their ongoing operations. Investment in security measures is determined by the aforementioned parties, using their existing funding streams. British Transport Police operates in these remote areas as part of its responsibilities.

Teams within General Practice, local community pharmacies and optometry practices frequently work together to support their patients. Other primary care providers can and do refer patients to community optometry services. Community optometry is the accepted first point of contact for any eye related issues.