I thank Christine Grahame for reminding me of the excellent visit that we undertook in her Constituency to look at the funding that the Government was releasing to ensure that there was an expansion of hospital-at-home services. I thank again the team in the Borders, which is working so hard on that.

The Scottish Government has continued to invest in the development of its hospital-at-home programme, which, in recent years, has expanded into additional pathways, such as out-patient parenteral antibiotic therapy and respiratory and, more recently, heart failure and paediatric services. In particular, in the past year alone, the older people’s programme has delivered 495 older people or acute beds across Scotland—58 per cent more than in the previous year—and has treated almost 14,500 patients, which makes it the largest provider of geriatric beds in Scotland and the country’s 12th-largest hospital.

By increasing hospital-at-home capacity, we have been able to directly impact pressures on our hospitals as well as reduce the demand on the Scottish Ambulance Service and improve patient satisfaction. As an alternative to admission, hospital at home also avoids the creation of delayed discharges and enables significant financial savings. This year, £3.6 million has already been provided to 13 boards to establish new services for older people and increase the maturity and efficiency of the 20 or so services that are already in operation across the country. That has enabled more areas than ever to have a hospital-at-home service, and it demonstrates that the Scottish Government is committed to hospital at home and that that is a top priority for us here in Scotland.