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The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009, coupled with inclusion in the GI scheme already provides this guarantee and the GI mark is available to be used by producers meeting the specification should they wish.

The following provides details of marketing activity that has run over the preceding five years, to address chronic diseases. Chronic disease is defined in the Scottish Health Survey as any physical illness or mental illness expected to last a year or more. Messaging has not been tailored to target rural communities specifically, however where possible media platforms and channels have been selected and partnerships have been utilised to reach rural communities.

Crohn’s and Colitis

A Crohn’s and Colitis public information campaign ran in March 2023 via stakeholder and community engagement. The campaign aimed to increase awareness of the symptoms of Crohn’s and Colitis, and signpost to trustworthy information to empower and enable the public to seek advice from a healthcare professional.

Community engagement included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland. This included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

Campaign resources including a toolkit were sent to over 300 stakeholders, which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Women’s Heart Health

To help improve awareness and signs of heart disease and communicate ways of lowering risk, a public information campaign was developed to coincide with national heart month in February 2023 and was activated through community and stakeholder engagement.

Resources highlighted a key stat:istic “heart disease is killing 10 women a day in Scotland” and signposted to NHS Inform for more information on symptoms and actions to take to lower risks.

The campaign was aimed specifically at women and was delivered via community engagement and included the distribution of posters to 1,256 community pharmacies, 908 general practices, 256 leisure/community centres and 32 library hubs (for onward distribution to community libraries) throughout Scotland, this included rural areas, the Highlands and Islands.

A campaign toolkit was also sent digitally to a comprehensive stakeholder list which included Local Authorities and NHS Health Boards.

Cancer

Between April 2020 to date, a number of campaigns have run to support earlier detection of cancer, including Lung cancer, Cervical screening and Detect Cancer Early campaigns. Local press and radio packages were purchased as part of a Scotland wide media plan, to reach rural communities. Press titles included the Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, Berwickshire Advertiser, Ayrshire Post, The Hawick Paper, Banffshire Herald, John 'Groat Journal and radio stations included Radio Borders, Moray Firth Radio, Northsound, Westsound and Tay Radio.

A new burst of the Detect Cancer Early campaign will run in March and includes community radio in a number of rural locations that network radio does not reach, including Argyll FM, Caithness FM, Radio Skye, Radio Wester Ross, Radio Nevis (Fort William) and Shetlands (SIBC). Also included is a content partnership with local publications such as Ellon Times, Buchan Observer, East Fife Mail, Berwickshire Advertiser and Ayrshire Post and Field activity in locations that are more accessible for those living more rurally such as Elgin, Fort William and Stranraer.

Dementia Stigma

The Rethink Dementia campaign launched on 4 September 2024 and ran for 6 weeks in paid-for media. A number of Local Press Titles were purchased as part of the campaign, including:

Community Scotland Zone Newspaper

South Annandale Series

South Ayr Advertiser

South Berwickshire News

South Border Telegraph

South Cumnock Chronicle and Muirkirk Advertiser

South Dumfries Courier

South Eskdale & Lidderdale Advertiser

South Galloway Gazette

South Lanark and Carluke Gazette

South Peeblesshire News

South Southern Reporter

South Stranraer & Wigtown Free Press

South The Hawick Paper

North Angus County Press

North Banffshire Advertiser

North Banffshire Herald

North Banffshire Journal

North The Buchie & Inverurie Herald/ Ellon Times/ Fraserburgh Herald

North Caithness Courier

North Campbeltown Courier & Argyllshire Advertiser

North Deeside & Donside Piper and Herald

North Forres Gazette

North Helensburgh Advertiser

North Highland News Group

North Huntly Express

North Inverness Courier (Fri & Tues)

North Isle of Bute News

North John O'Groat Journal

North Mearns Leader/ Kincardineshire Observer

North Northern Scot

North Northern Times

North Oban Times and West Highland Times

North Ross-shire Journal

North Shetland Times

North Stornoway Gazette

North Strathspey and Badenoch Herald

North The Orcadian - Orkney

North West Highland Free Press

The Rethink Dementia campaign also utilised pharmacies, libraries, GP practices, community centres and sports centres, providing these settings with campaign assets across Scotland including rural communities.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport operates on a commercial basis and at arm’s length from the Scottish Government and Ministers do not intervene in operational matters.

Community organisations in rural areas and elsewhere are uniquely placed to identify and address the issues that keep individuals in their local communities healthy.

A place-based approach is the foundation of Community-Led Local Development (CLLD). Communities are empowered and supported to design and implement the solutions to the challenges and opportunities they identify in their local area, which can include community led health and social care provision.

Through the Communities workstream within the wider Place and Wellbeing programme we are also working with the community and voluntary sector to enhance the capacity of community organisations (in rural areas and elsewhere) to complement the actions of the public sector in keeping people well. As part of the Communities Workstream we are exploring how we can increase the influence of local community organisations in the decisions that impact on the health and wellbeing of their communities.

We have also introduced participation requests as part of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, which provide a mechanism for communities to seek dialogue with public service providers including NHS Health Boards on their own terms and become meaningfully involved in local service delivery.

This information is provided in Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s annual accounts.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport has published annual accounts for each year since the shareholding was acquired by Scottish Ministers. It is a statutory requirement that these are laid in Parliament.

There is a wide range of education and training programmes for those delivering palliative care suitable to their role. These training programmes encourage those delivering palliative care to be aware of cultural factors and how these can impact on individuals and their families.

Our draft palliative care strategy aims to build on this work and includes a number of recommended actions for the provision of palliative care education and training to support all healthcare professionals delivering palliative care services.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that women across Scotland have timely access to reproductive health services. Work continues on the actions set out in the Women’s Health Plan 2021 and the Sexual Health and Blood Borne Virus (SHBBV) Action Plan 2023-26 to ensure that anyone accessing contraception, or deciding to terminate their pregnancy, is provided with fully accessible and person-centred pathways, with information provided to allow for informed decisions to be made about their own sexual and reproductive health.

As part of the SHBBV Action Plan, the Scottish Government has committed to visiting all 14 Health Boards. During these visits the Scottish Government will be recognising the challenges that Boards are facing and the good practice being delivered. This time will also be used to explore areas for collaboration between Boards, both nationally and regionally, especially within rural areas. Officials’ visit to NHS Grampian is scheduled for May 2025.

The evaluation of early medical abortion at home (EMAH) in Scotland was published in March 2023, demonstrating high levels of effectiveness of EMAH, but noting some variations in service delivery across the country. The Scottish Government has taken various actions forward with the Scottish Abortion Care Providers network following this to improve and increase consistency of EMAH services for women across Scotland, and particularly in rural areas, including by providing improved patient information.

An updated medical abortion approval was signed in December 2024, allowing women to take abortion medication in residential or temporary accommodation if clinically appropriate, particularly benefitting patients who may live significant distances from hospitals or clinics.

The Scottish Government is working with Health Boards and Public Health Scotland to monitor access to services, including analysis of annual statistics. As part of the commitment to ensure services are accessible to all, officials regularly discuss barriers to these reproductive health services with Health Boards, including NHS Grampian, to inform possible improvements to services for patients in rural locations.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of ensuring that women in rural areas are able to access cervical and breast screening services.

The breast screening programme operates from six centres across Scotland and is supported by 21 mobile units to allow screening to be delivered more locally to minimise travel and distance as barriers for attendance. The latest statistics released by Public Health Scotland (PHS) show that for the breast screening programme, the NHS Health Boards which include the highest level of rural areas saw above-average uptake in Scotland, and also met Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s acceptable uptake standard of 70% for the three-year period 2020-23.

The Scottish Government supports women to access the cervical screening programme by funding GPs to deliver it in their communities. As with breast screening, the latest PHS statistics for cervical screening also show a higher than average uptake in NHS Health Boards that have the highest level of rural areas.

To strengthen the delivery of comprehensive, sustainable and accessible services, the Scottish Government is developing a Route Map for Primary Care to further enhance sustainability of Primary Care, aligned to wider reform of Health and Social Care. This encompasses evaluation of both how the Primary Care system operates currently, including across rural areas, and how it will operate in the context of wider reforms. Under a shared vision for Health and Social Care, the Route Map will set the strategic direction for Primary Care as a whole.

In addition to this, the Scottish Government has annually made £1m available through our Inequalities Fund. Boards are allocated funding for use in developing local initiatives taking into consideration specific barriers for individuals. For example, NHS Highland’s partnered with the North’s Scottish Breast Screening Service to deliver telephone reminders targeted at individuals invited to take part in screening for the first time. During the initiative's second year, uptake among individuals living in 'Remote Small Towns', 'Accessible Rural Areas' & 'Remote Rural Areas' (all categories within the Scottish Urban Rural Classification), was statistically significantly higher among those who were contacted relative to those who were not contacted.

The Scottish Government recognise that people in rural areas can experience particular challenges in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.

Decisions around the provision of mental health services is a local responsibility, planned by Integrated Joint Boards and delivered through a mixture of NHS, local authority and third sector organisations. Mental Health services will vary depending the local population needs and will be guided by clinical decision making.

While we expect service decisions to be taken locally, we have invested £66 million in our Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults since 2021. The Fund has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and prioritises a range of ‘at risk’ groups including those people disadvantaged by geographical location (particularly remote and rural areas) with over 900 awards being made to community projects supporting people disadvantaged by geographical location (including rural areas) since its inception.

Initial diagnosis of visual impairments largely takes place in community optometry practices following patient presentation to the service. We are not aware of access concerns to the service at this time.

There is currently no community provision for audiology in Scotland. Diagnosis is performed within secondary care settings and typically on referral from wider health networks and services. Consideration of audiology capacity – within existing NHS hospital services – is being taken forward in response to the findings of the Independent Review of Audiology. In addressing the Review’s recommendations, audiology has been designated a clinical priority area, with improvement work being progressed through the National Planning and Delivery Board arrangements, led by the Chief Operating Officer – NHS Scotland.