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Highland HSCP are putting in place a mixed-model for vaccinations. GP delivery is expected to be key in some aspects of this model, but the plan is for a collaborative approach rather than one that relies solely on GP delivery.

Oversight of how the mixed model is developed and deployed to deliver local and accessible vaccination and immunisation services in a cost effective way will ultimately remain the responsibility of Highland HSCP.

Health boards are funded to offer vaccination in a way that best suits the needs of their communities, supported by national frameworks, such as Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) 5-year Vaccination and Immunisation Framework and Delivery Plan. This plan specifically sets out that boards should “ensure availability of a range of flexible, responsive, and good-quality immunisation services that meet the needs of all communities, including our rural and island communities”.

Since April 2022, Health Boards have been responsible for delivering vaccines. The vast majority of adult vaccinations, including flu, Covid, RSV, shingles and pneumococcal are visible to GPs via their GP-IT system.

Currently, childhood and non-routine vaccinations do not automatically flow into GP-IT from the separate systems that record them, but this pre-dates the move from GP to Health Board delivery.

Any associated patient risk is mitigated by Health Boards providing GPs with a list of childhood and non-routine vaccinations they have administered. The Scottish Government funds GPs to manually input these into their GP systems.

In January of this year, Scottish Minsters agreed to Highland HSCP putting in place a mixed-model for vaccinations. GP delivery is likely to be key in some aspects of this model, however, the aim is to take a collaborative approach to delivering vaccinations.

Since 2022, Health Boards have been responsible for delivering vaccination programmes. However, the Scottish Government recognises the need for flexibility to account of specific, local circumstances that might negatively affect vaccine uptake, which is why Ministers agreed to the development and implementation of a mixed model.

The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland continue to engage with Highland HSCP to support a flexible and responsive immunisation service.

In addition to the previously announced £106 million investment to address long waits for planned care, the Government has committed a further £4 million to deliver extra dermatology activity. This will help to increase capacity for dermatology services and reduce long waits, and will primarily be focused on introducing additional workforce, extra clinics in evenings and weekends.

This will support a planned:

4,100 new outpatient appointments; and

1,500 ‘see and treat’ appointments.

This funding will also provide photo-triage of up to 8,300 digital images, allowing clinicians to triage, diagnose and assess some skin conditions, leading to a better and quicker service for patients.

This builds on our investment of £1.8m for our national digital dermatology programme which helps reduce long waits for outpatient appointments in dermatology.

All Territorial Boards can now provide their GPs with access to the new Digital Dermatology Pathway. Supplier data suggests that as of Friday 18th July, 627 GP practices (71%) across 13 Territorial Boards have access to the pathway, of which 423 have used this to capture images as part of a referral to secondary care. The remaining Territorial Board has an existing pathway in place.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-39383 on 28 July 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.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) recently reviewed and published an updated version of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland in February this year. This provides updated templates to support NHS Health Boards to consistently report and learn from Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAER). Work is ongoing by HIS to standardise the terminology and definitions for recording SAERs.

The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 places statutory responsibility for the provision of education in Scotland with individual local authorities. Under section 70 of the 1980 Act any interested party can make a reference to the Scottish Ministers that a responsible body (the managers of a school or education establishment, an education authority or other persons) has failed to discharge a duty imposed on them by or for the purposes of any enactment relating to education. This includes duties imposed by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Furthermore, where families are concerned that education authorities may not be fulfilling their duties under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, there is a range of dispute resolution mechanisms available to them. These mechanisms include mediation, independent adjudication, and referral to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

The question of liability in relation to any healthcare matter will depend on the particular facts and circumstances. This is a legal matter for the relevant parties involved in the provision and receipt of healthcare.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) recently reviewed and published an updated version of A national framework for reviewing and learning from adverse events in NHS Scotland in February this year. The revised framework includes an updated shareable learning template which NHS Health Boards should complete following a Significant Adverse Event Review (SAER). These summaries, which will support local and national learning, will be published on an online community of practice for NHS staff which HIS will launch later this year.

The framework is clear that those people directly affected by a significant adverse event should have the opportunity to be involved in the review process and should be made fully aware of the circumstances surrounding the event. This includes sharing the final report with the individual concerned, or their family in the event of a death.

The Scottish Government does not require NHS Health Boards to publish SAER reports more widely. It is the responsibility of the Health Boards to consider relevant legislation and guidance when releasing or publishing information.

The information requested on how many clinicians in Scotland are currently qualified to prescribe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication, broken down by (a) profession and (b) NHS board is not held centrally.