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The National Integrated Workforce Strategy published in 2019 committed to increase the Cardiac Physiologist workforce, thereby increasing capacity to carry out diagnostic testing, by supporting an additional 30 training places on the 4 year BSc course in Clinical Physiology.

Over the next 3-5 years we will also focus on increasing the workforce by promoting recruitment into Scientist Training Programmes and Practitioner BSC Programmes” We have supported 17 new practitioners through the 4 year BSc Course and 13 new Clinical Scientists.

More recently in 2022, the Clinical Physiology Executive Board has scoped and collected data on all physiology science services. The information that has been garnered from this exercise will feed into the wider strategic piece of work in relation to Healthcare Science education and training.

Delivery of this action is a long term objective of the plan. The National Heart Disease Task Force will consider the prioritisation of work to be undertaken in 2023-24 as part of our ongoing implementation of the commitments within the Heart Disease Action Plan.

In order to provide a wide-range of rehabilitation approaches, a skilled workforce is required that spans health, social care and third and independent sectors. The workforce brings a range of skills that can vary across sector and by background.

Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) make up a significant proportion of the rehabilitation workforce. The AHP Education and Workforce Policy Review considered the actions necessary to deliver a national education and workforce plan for AHPs. This has now been completed. The recommendations will be published early 2023 and an implementation plan will be developed thereafter.

In April 2021, Scottish Government commissioned Public Health Scotland to develop and deliver the Scottish Cardiac Audit Programme. Over 100 clinicians and people with lived experience have been involved in the development of draft indicators for this programme. This includes health care professionals with an interest in specialist services, cardiac rehabilitation and palliative care.

Draft indicators were shared for further feedback in autumn 2022. PHS continue to work to develop the audit programme based on this feedback.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-14676 on 6 March 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The following table provides a breakdown of the number of homes in the South Scotland region delivered through the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund in each year since 2016-17, broken down by local authority area.

The homes provided through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme comprise homes for social rent, for mid-market rent and for low cost home ownership. These homes take various forms including; new build homes, rehabilitation projects, conversions and off-the-shelf purchases of both new and second hand homes.

The following table provides a breakdown of the spend on the demand-led Rural and Islands Housing Fund in the South Scotland Region each year since its introduction in 2016-17, broken down by local authority area. The Rural and Island Housing Fund plays an important role in offering support to community organisations and others while complementing the significant delivery through our mainstream programme by Councils and Registered Social Landlords in rural and island areas .

The information requested is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Government and would require to be obtained from Health Boards.

Spend for traditional marketing of the Near Me video consulting service was predominantly undertaken through local Health Boards responsible for ensuring the service is appropriately advertised. Wider communication and promotion of the service has been taken forward through programme costs as part of a collaborative approach to implementation.

However, the Scottish Government have invested in communications for Near Me including online resources, online content and website development, though again this was all managed by core programme staff costs and cross-sector collaboration. The programme utilised existing mechanisms such as tv interviews, press releases and First Minister daily briefings.

The Near Me website ( ) was developed in-house and is hosted by NHS National Services Scotland. £10,000 was spent to develop and update Near Me’s animated videos. These help promote the service and are used as a training resource for both staff and callers. Further spend of £700 was used for the translation of key support and guidance for the public into different languages. Cost was minimised as the work was undertaken in collaboration with the NHS in Wales. The development of an equalities impact assessment (eqia) and public engagement exercise which reached in excess of 5,000 people and 500 organisations were undertaken through core staff costs.

The programme has been working alongside key staff such as receptionists to support increased promotion of Near Me as a choice in how people can access an appointment.

The information requested is not held centrally.