6. I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests. I am a practising national health service general practitioner.

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported plans by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to reduce the number of community link workers embedded in GP practices in deprived areas of Glasgow by one third, due to Scottish Government funding cuts. (S6O-02501)

I am very concerned about the risk to link workers in Glasgow from April 2024, as they provide a vital service in disadvantaged areas. My officials are engaging with the health and social care partnership on its plans for primary care in 2024-25, and are exploring all options to avoid a reduction in posts.

I have received several letters from deep-end practices in Glasgow telling me how invaluable community link workers are. I also met with one of those practices. Those cuts are a direct threat to the stability of the practices, and the loss of community link workers will have a severe impact on the most vulnerable patients in our communities.

The Scottish National Party made a manifesto commitment to increase community link workers in GP surgeries and promised to invest in practices in disadvantaged areas. Why are we seeing the opposite? Will the Scottish Government ensure that those cuts are reversed?

Unfortunately, Mr Gulhane is incorrect. This is not a result of Scottish Government budget cuts. The funding for community link workers comes from the primary care improvement fund, which still stands at £190 million. Glasgow’s health and social care partnership has gone beyond the funding that was provided to it for the delivery of community link workers, which it is no longer able to sustain. The member may be aware that this year we stepped in and provided an extra £1.3 million in order to protect posts in this financial year. We are continuing to engage with the health and social care partnership in order to make sure that it has a sustainable position and that it supports those invaluable workers who are working in some of the most challenging GP practices in the country.