 Felly, iawn eich anffrath rai ar gyfer hwnnw i amgylchedd. Gweithio'r cwestiwr, y ddigon, ar yr ystyried, yn gweithio gyda'r bwysig, y gwahog yn imi'r ysgol, yn cael bwysig, yn cael ei adeiladau. Felly, y gwahog yn imi'r ysgol, mewn cymdeithio ar gyfer holl hwnnw, ond i gaber y cwm yn cyffordd losi, ar gyfer y postigio. NHS boards are providing support for people with long Covid across local primary care teams, community-based rehabilitation centres and referral for investigation and secondary care settings where clinically appropriate. We are making available £3 million from our £10 million long Covid support fund over this financial year. Within the member's constituency this funding stream is supporting the operation of NHS Lanarkshire's long Covid rehabilitation pathway. People can access the pathway following referral by their health or care professional, and the pathway is supported by a specialist team of professionals, including dieticians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and psychological practitioners. I thank the minister for that response. I have previously raised the plight of my constituent, Jonathan McMullen, in this chamber on a couple of occasions. Jonathan has been suffering from long Covid since he contracted the virus at age 14 in March 2020. His mother, Tracy, has worked tirelessly for her son, but the family have recently resorted to seeking private healthcare for his chronic fatigue and post-jovo tachardia syndrome that he was diagnosed with post-infection. It really does feel like we need to do more to help patients with long Covid. So can I ask what more can the Scottish Government do to understand long Covid and to ensure that those who develop such conditions, like Jonathan, are effectively diagnosed and treated within the NHS? I thank Fulton MacGregor for his question and would like to pass on to his constituent my sympathies for the difficulties that her family are experiencing. I understand that my officials have written to Ms McMullen earlier this week in relation to Jonathan's case. The national long Covid strategic network has developed a recommended pathway for the assessment and management of POTS for use by NHS boards and an educational webinar on POTS for healthcare staff across Scotland supporting people living with long Covid. We are working hard to implement our neurological care and support framework 2020-25, with the vision to ensure everyone with a neurological condition, including ME chronic fatigue syndrome, can access the care and support that they need. As we have heard, the Scottish Government has promised £10 million over three years for the treatment of long Covid, but, in contrast, NHS England dedicated £224 million to support the assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of people with the condition. £90 million of that was allocated last year. That would have produced £21.7 million in Barnett consequentials for Scotland. Will the minister tell us whether missing money, which her Government has received, has gone and will she allocate any additional funding to long Covid services in the upcoming budget? There is no missing money. The Scottish Government allocates the NHS funding as appropriate to the needs of Scotland. Given that no one single service model would fit all areas of Scotland, we are giving NHS boards the flexibility to design and deliver the best models of care tailored to the specific needs of their local populations. There is an increasing amount of evidence of links between long Covid and ME, a disease that a number of my constituents and others feel has been neglected for decades. Therefore, on behalf of my constituents with ME and long Covid-related ME, can I ask the minister for an update on specific actions that the Government plans to take to implement the 2021 nice guidelines on ME in Scotland, including specialist services, and when that will happen? I thank Ben Macpherson for that question and recognise the importance of supporting people with ME and CFS. We inserted the key recommendations from the 2021 nice guideline on ME, CFS and into the Scottish good practice statement on ME, CFS and we published that on the Scottish Government's website in February this year. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to reduce the number of missed appointments in the NHS. There are a range of initiatives being undertaken throughout the NHS to minimise missed appointments. For example, in planned care, the Centre for Sustainable Delivery is supporting boards to implement high-impact programmes, including active clinical referral triage and patient-initiated reviews, helping to reduce unnecessary appointments and eliminate waste. In vaccines, patients with a digital preference receive a reminder text or email of their appointment. NHS National Services Scotland uses analysis of patients' booking behaviours and habits to request non-attending patients' groups' book directly, as opposed to being given timed appointments. Last week, Caroline Hiscox, the CEO of NHS Grampian, told me that a digital appointment system would be a solution in preference to the letters that it is using at the moment. However, the Government's failure to properly resource the health service, the health board, makes it impossible for it to implement. What steps is the Government taking to allow NHS Grampian to implement these proper modern systems? When can patients expect to see progress? We are providing record funding to our NHS boards to help to make sure that they can deliver the best possible services to patients as close to home as possible. In terms of communications with patients, the member may be aware that we just published our new NHS Scotland waiting times guidance, which sets out a range of actions that boards have to take forward, including providing for a standard package of communications that all boards should be using. The member will be aware that there are boards that should make use of digital services, and we encourage other boards to do likewise. I would certainly want to encourage NHS Grampian to do so going forward. Can I ask the cabinet secretary who mentioned appointments close to home? Given the countless stories of patients being asked to travel long distances, particularly in rural health boards, for appointments and there is not often the necessary transport infrastructure, what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that appointments are offered within communities close to home to reduce the number of missed appointments? Boards will try to provide appointments as close to home as possible. However, the member may be aware that there are, in terms of some clinical specialities, difficulties in being able to do that, where patients then have to travel to particular centres in order to access those services. However, we would certainly want to make sure that boards are continuing to do what they can to deliver services as close to home as possible and where that is clinically safe to do so. Of course, where there is travelling involved, there are travel schemes provided so that patients can get reimbust for the costs associated with their travel. To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to accelerate new woodland creation in order to meet its targets. Over the past five years, Scotland has delivered 76 per cent of the tree planting across the UK, and we are committed to doing more. In June, I announced an action plan aimed at ramping up tree planting levels, and I am actively taking forward a comprehensive package of measures that will help to boost woodland creation rates. Earlier this week, I introduced the most significant enhancements to the forestry grant scheme since it was established in 2050. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response. Since the 1940s, Galloway has been subject to indiscriminate and damaging planting of huge areas of monoculture conifers to the detriment of our communities, our rivers and natural environment, and what seems to be another mad rush to plant more trees. Ten thousands of hectares will be planted in the south of Scotland next year. Only this week, despite assurances to the country, the issues will be addressed. Scottish Forestry has approved the MacIrston scheme without any satisfactory arrangement with the residents at Kenton in Blackwater. How will the Government address cumulative impacts on local jobs, biodiversity and culture, and will the cabinet secretary agree to meet with me and my constituents to hear their concerns? I am really classed that the member has raised that point. We have always been very clear that, ultimately, this is about, like most things and like most areas, about balance and ensuring that we try to get that balance right, that we are listening to communities. I would say that that element of it is part of the package of improvements that I have also announced in terms of the guidance for that community engagement. We have always been clear that it is ultimately about the right tree in the right place. I think that it is really important. We need to remember how vital our forestry sector is to the 25,000 jobs that it supports, and it is worth £1 billion to our economy. Of course, our agriculture is important, as well. Again, it all comes back to the balance and relation to that. If there are points that the member in particular wants to raise with me, I am more than happy to follow up with him after this and to discuss that further. Question 4, Bill Kidd. To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it is undertaking of the impact of the UK Government's autumn statement on NHS funding in Scotland. The autumn statement provided a real terms cut to NHS England and no funding whatsoever for 2024-25 for the costs of this year's paydeals or for the 2024-25 increases. It equates to a less than 0.06 per cent increase against the current Scottish health budget and means that there is at least £260 million of pay pressures on NHS Scotland for 2024-25. The UK Government must face up to the pressures across health and care and provide adequate funding to address the cost crisis that is hampering service recovery from Covid and also to make sure that we can support our health and social care staff in fair pay. Bill Kidd. I thank the cabinet secretary for his reply. Given the recent comments by Labour's health secretary calling for further privatisation and continuing Tory zeal for more austerity, does the minister agree with me that the only party that can guarantee our NHS will remain in public hands is the SNP and that the full powers of independence that we get rid of, Westminster governments for good and the threat that they pose to our public services? Health spending per head in Scotland is already higher than in both Wales and in England. In my view, rather than channeling precious public sector money out of our NHS and into the hands of private healthcare companies for profit, we should be investing in our health service to make sure that we can provide first-class public services through NHS Scotland. What I can assure the member and others in the chamber is that, under an SNP Government, Scotland's NHS will always remain in the hands of the public and be free at the point of use. The rural GP Scotland network has highlighted the impact of changes made in 2018 to the Scottish Workload Allocation Fund, in which it says that it fails to reflect the workload and services provided by rural GPs and their teams, which has seen GPs in rural areas, many of whom in my Highlands and Islands region are actually losing money. Will the Scottish Government use its forthcoming budget to do anything to reverse SNP cuts to rural GP funding? The member may be aware that the health consequentials from the autumn statement for Scotland were £10.9 million. That is equivalent to five-year-olds of our NHS in terms of funding. What I can assure the member of is that we have provided the commitment that was set out within the DDRB for the uplift for general practice, both for GPs and also for the staff group, and we will continue to do what we can to help to support rural GPs, for example, through programmes such as the ScotGem programme. However, I can assure the member that we will continue to do what we can to make sure that we invest on our NHS going forward, both at a primary and secondary care level. The blame for NHS deficits cannot be solely attributed to the UK Government autumn statement. The Scottish Government has mismanaged the situation for years now. Scottish NHS health boards are facing a forecast deficit of £395 million. Will the Scottish Government take responsibility and address the situation before patients and staff pay the price? We have already provided an extra £200 million to our NHS boards to help to support them in meeting the financial challenges that they face. The member will be aware that our boards are also having to manage significant increase in costs due to capital pressures and, for example, energy costs, which are putting pressure on budgets as well. The additional £200 million that we have provided is to try to help to manage some of those things, which is why we are also engaging with boards to provide them with tailored support to help to address any financial challenges that they are facing. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on enabling patients to access all of their primary and secondary care medical records from one source. Minister Jenny Minto. I recognise that some people can currently access certain parts of their medical records, and while everyone has the legal right to access information held about them, this is not something that is consistently available on a national level. This is something that we are determined to resolve, and I know that the Cabinet Secretary and First Minister have committed to addressing this in the policy prospectus. We have now commissioned National Education Scotland to develop a digital front door that, over time, will begin to provide access. I expect the first version of this to be available by 2026. I thank the minister for that answer. We are moving painfully slowly. I have been trying since early last year to find a simple process for patients to have access to their primary and secondary health care records. Currently, as I found out to my cost, you require to submit a subject access request on GPs and also on all secondary care doctors involved in your treatment individually to get your records. Does the minister agree with me that there should be a one-stop-shop to allow patients to access their medical records, and what action will this Government take to ensure that patients already facing the trauma of treatment do not have the additional stress of having hurdles put in their way to access their medical records? I thank Edward Mountain for that supplementary question, and I know the hard work that you have been doing in this specific field of health, especially the work that you have done about let's talk about health in Highland. I am very happy to meet Mr Mountain to further discuss this to see how we can move things on. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to reduce waiting times for post mastectomy breast reconstructive surgery. First, I am aware that there are some extensive long waits for post mastectomy breast reconstructive surgery, and I recognise the impact that that has on women's health and well-being. Older currently prioritising patients with trauma and or active cancer and delays have, of course, been exacerbated by the pandemic. We remain committed to reducing long waits and seeing a year-on-year reduction in waiting times. We are taking this seriously and are working with stakeholders to ensure that we take further steps to address these issues. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. After almost four years, my constitution has finally been given a date for a post-cancer breast reconstruction surgery. That is good news. However, raising individual cases in Parliament should not be the only route for women to receive a date for this crucial surgery. Part of the problem stems from Scottish Government directives on priority cases and the decision to cut surgery theatres at the Canisburn unit from six down to two. There are many more women on the waiting list, and there still will be, unless the Scottish Government tackles problems with plastic surgery. Will the cabinet secretary commit to producing a concrete plan for reducing waiting times so that women are not forced to endure this trauma for years? I recognise the concern that the member raises on behalf of her constituent. I apologise for the extended delay that she has had in being able to get access to the treatment that she requires. I can give her an assurance of the work that we are taking forward in order to reduce long waits. The member may be aware that we have committed to investing an extra £100 million over each of the next three years to drive down our waiting list. That will help us to increase the number of capacity that we have within tackling waiting lists and will help to reduce numbers by 100,000 over the course of that three-year period on top of the action that we are taking at the present moment. Alongside that, the member might be aware that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are working closely with the Golden Jubilee hospital to look at additional capacity provision, which will allow them to also make provision for additional plastic surgery capacity to address some of the extended waiting times that their patients are experiencing. To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing the ticketing issues raised by the Cumbria Ferry Committee and Cumbria Community Council. I recently met the member to discuss this issue, and I have also written directly to the Cumbria Ferry Committee. Transport Scotland has previously noted the issue of season tickets, which is being reviewed, as well as wider issues on ferry fares. Options for an interim product are being considered, including multi-journey tickets. However, the R-Tourist booking platform needs to be stabilised prior to further product introduction being considered. It is anticipated that CalMac's stabilisation work on the booking platform will be completed later this month at the earliest. I thank the minister for that answer and for her engagement with me and with residents on Cumbria. I wish I could say that there had been the same quality of engagement from CalMac. The removal of the season ticket has resulted in a significant increase in cost for Cumbria Island residents, for whom this is a lifeline service and most of whom travel to the mainland every day of the working week. Island residents want to know more about the options being considered for the interim ticketing option in particular, but CalMac has been unable or unwilling to provide any additional information on that or on any of the other issues that island residents have raised in which they expected or led to expect further information from CalMac on. I ask the minister if she would instruct CalMac to engage with the community directly on the issue of the interim ticket and provide further information on the options being considered. As I replied in my first answer, I have already engaged directly with the Cymru Ffairy Committee on the number of the issues that they have raised. Clearly, this community has previously been given assurances that this issue will be addressed and I am keen that this will happen. Transport Scotland officials will continue to consider the options for doing so with CalMac.