Meeting of the Parliament 19 November 2025
I thank Finlay Carson for bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I thank all members for their contributions.
I wish to respond specifically to a number of contributions towards the end of my speech. I will also try to pick up on some of the issues as I go.
As the chamber is aware, I represent a rural area: Caithness, Sutherland and Ross. The motion rightly highlights the challenges faced by rural communities, including those in Stranraer, Wigtownshire and across Dumfries and Galloway, in accessing timely and high-quality healthcare.
The 2025-26 budget commits a record £21.7 billion to health and social care, including £139 million for rural infrastructure. That funding will improve primary care access, expand diagnostics at Galloway community hospital and boost GP recruitment and retention.
In addition, we have announced the largest-ever investment in GP services—£531 million over three years—to stabilise practices and strengthen access in rural areas. Our GP action plan includes measures to strengthen recruitment and retention in rural and island areas, such as through the rural fellowship, reviewing the golden hello scheme to ensure the right incentives for harder-to-fill posts, and refreshing the GP retain and sustain scheme, which opened to new entrants in August 2025.
We have expanded multidisciplinary teams in general practice. More than 5,000 whole-time equivalent staff were working in services such as physiotherapy, pharmacy and phlebotomy as at March 2025. We are also working with boards in areas such as Borders and Shetland to model the best practice for those teams.
On maternity services, we expect all NHS boards to deliver care as close to home as possible, while ensuring safety for mother and baby. On 29 October, we launched the Scottish maternity and neonatal task force, which is chaired by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health. Its role is to provide national leadership, set the scope for a comprehensive review and act on lessons from Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s inspections. Crucially, it will examine rural provision, including in Caithness in my constituency, and in Stranraer. I know that that is important for rural communities.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care met service leaders and local groups in Stranraer last month, and my colleague Jenny Minto, the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, visited Caithness in July. In all those areas, boards have increased local services.