The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-08894, in the name of Linda Fabiani, on Marie Curie Cancer Care’s 2014 great daffodil appeal. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes Marie Curie Cancer Care’s Great Daffodil Appeal 2014, which will run throughout March; applauds what it understands is the over £4 million raised every year in Scotland by the appeal, which supports the charity in delivering services across the country; believes that Marie Curie Cancer Care supports people with terminal illness by providing free care at home with the help of its nurses or in the community at its Glasgow or Edinburgh hospices; recognises what it sees as the vital role that its volunteers, such as the East Kilbride Fundraising Group for Marie Curie Cancer Care, play in supporting the work of the charity by collecting and raising funds, helping patients, acting as patrons and advisors, supporting services and hospices or working as assistants in its shops; understands that, in 2013, over 4,000 volunteers helped Marie Curie Cancer Care in some way, and acknowledges what it sees as the vital role that they play in communities throughout Scotland.
17:04
I am delighted to have the honour of holding this debate on behalf of Marie Curie Cancer Care. It is nice to see how many members have supported the motion and how many have remained in the chamber, because I know that everyone is very busy. I say to any of my colleagues who does not have a daffodil that one will be provided later—I am sure that we will all wear them throughout the month of March. It is fantastic to see so many people in the public gallery all wearing their daffodils.
Of course, March is the month in which we campaign on behalf of Marie Curie and do the annual great daffodil appeal. More than £4 million is raised in Scotland every year by the appeal: a lot of money. It supports the Marie Curie charity in delivering services across the country.
The way that we have to word motions in the Parliament is interesting. The motion says:
“The Parliament believes that Marie Curie Cancer Care supports people with terminal illness by providing free care at home”
and that we believe that fundraising groups work hard. We do not just believe that; we know it, and everyone knows it. The Marie Curie charity is one that absolutely everyone in the country knows about and supports. It is a truism, but every one of us has had someone we love who has suffered from cancer or another disease that brings life to an end and who has been supported by Marie Curie in some form, whether that be through research or the vital care that it gives.
Underpinning the work of the Marie Curie nurses, staff, researchers, scientists and all the people who work for it are the volunteers, whom we should celebrate tonight. The volunteers work hard in all different ways for Marie Curie. We have people here tonight from all over the country and I am quite fascinated when I look at the list. We have people from the East Kilbride fundraising group, of course. Although it is fairly new, Ann Openshaw and her team of volunteers have been working really hard and doing some fabulous fundraising.
Will the member take an intervention?
It is a shame that Maureen Watt intervened. I was going to say what fun some of the fundraising events are and I know that Maureen Watt donned a funny hat at the weekend and did some fundraising in Aberdeen.
Yes; it was good fun.
Does Linda Fabiani believe that volunteers face an uphill struggle because some places, such as shopping malls and garden centres, now charge for volunteers to collect? Like me, does she believe that that is a nonsense and that those organisations should look to their corporate social responsibility?
I am pleased that Maureen Watt raised that, because I did not know that and I am absolutely shocked to learn it. I hope that we will hear more from some of the volunteers tonight about where that is happening. If charging volunteers for collecting is happening in our areas, I hope that after the debate and tonight’s event we will get on to our keyboards—I was going to say get the pen and paper out, but we are all a bit beyond that now—and make sure that we protest in the strongest way about that. That is outrageous; it is absolutely ridiculous. I hope that it is not happening in East Kilbride, but if it is I will certainly get on to it.
I was talking about where other people have come from to get here today. Volunteers are here from across the country: from Stranraer to Thurso and from Glasgow—the biggest conurbation in our land—to Garioch, in the north-east. I am very grateful to my colleague, Mark McDonald, for telling me how to pronounce Garioch. Welcome, one and all.
Marie Curie is a big, very professional organisation that employs around 740 people in Scotland. In 2013, more than 3,000 people in Scotland gave their time to help Marie Curie collect for the great daffodil appeal. Work is being done in all our local authority areas by the volunteers and by the professionals, who provide a great service.
There is absolutely not the time for me to go into all the work that Marie Curie does, but one very important service is helping people in their last hours to die at home, if that is what they want.
A few years ago—probably more years ago than I care to remember—a Marie Curie-led campaign mentioned that it was at the forefront of providing palliative care in people’s own homes. That is so important—it is about what people need.
Very often, we tend to think about those services being provided for the elderly. However, I learned recently that Marie Curie supports young adults to make the transition from children’s hospice services to adult nursing care at home. That service is extremely important, too. Cancer affects everyone from all walks of life, no matter their age. The service that is provided by Marie Curie is so important because it is all inclusive.
In the last few seconds of my speaking time, I thank every one of Marie Curie’s volunteers, no matter what role they play. I thank them very much for all that they do and for being here.
17:11
It is a great pleasure to follow Linda Fabiani. I congratulate her on introducing the debate but, even more important, I thank all the Marie Curie volunteers and staff who have come to Parliament tonight, as well as those all across Scotland. I am told that 740 staff and 400 nurses support more than 4,000 patients, and that there are also 4,000 volunteers. I am pleased that Linda Fabiani’s motion places special emphasis on volunteers, because without them the work of Marie Curie would not be possible.
I am told that there are 67 community fundraising groups. There are also shops—I think that there are six in Edinburgh, one of which is in Goldenacre in my constituency. The debate’s main purpose is to record our appreciation for all those people’s work and to thank them for it. I express my apologies because I will not be at tonight’s event, which is certainly not due to a lack of respect for Marie Curie and everyone who is involved in it. I usually attend the Marie Curie event, but I must go to another event here at which two constituency groups will deliver presentations, before I go to a meeting in my constituency.
More generally, Marie Curie is helping to achieve what we might call an end-of-life revolution. Sixty per cent of people in Scotland die in hospital, but most of them do not want to die there. There must be a choice about that. Many people identify palliative care with hospices; Marie Curie makes a great contribution through its hospices in Edinburgh and elsewhere. However, giving people choice and developing a community-based model of end-of-life care to make that choice a reality is what is important.
I note from Marie Curie’s briefing that its patients are twice as likely to die at home as the population who do not have access to its services. Its patients also have fewer emergency hospital admissions. In fact, Marie Curie is helping to redesign palliative care services in Edinburgh. It was also recently involved in writing a report with NHS Lothian and the University of Edinburgh. That report was important in developing the new end-of-life care model. I think that Nanette Milne sponsored a debate on that issue a few months ago.
I will highlight two important points from the report. First, although 75 per cent of cancer patients get palliative care, only 20 per cent of non-cancer patients do. A great deal of work must be done to address that issue. Secondly, the report emphasised the importance of a gradual long-term approach to phasing in support and palliative care. In other words, patients should be identified earlier. In order for that to happen, we need to break down the stigma that is associated with talk about dying. A lot must be done with regard to the end-of-life and palliative care revolution, and Marie Curie is absolutely key to that work.
In my last minute, I will mention two other bits of work that involve Marie Curie that I have learned about from the stand that I was pleased to visit, which is in the members’ lobby all week. First, Marie Curie is involved in research that is important for all aspects of healthcare. To use another Edinburgh example, it has been involved in research about anticipating prescribing at the end of life in south Edinburgh care homes. The availability of key medicines to manage symptoms that are likely to occur when a person is dying is very important.
Last—but certainly not least—Marie Curie is working with the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland on the rest assured service, for when children leave a hospice to die at home. It is tragic that children are important in this context but, numerically, older people are more important.
My final point, which is again from the Marie Curie briefing, is that the number of over-75s in Scotland will increase from the current 420,000 to 780,000 in 2037, which is an 86 per cent increase. That is marvellous news, but it will mean more older people with terminal illnesses and multiple conditions, so it will be even more important that we develop the right models of palliative care.
I thank Marie Curie for all that it does, and I thank especially its volunteers.
17:15
I congratulate Linda Fabiani on securing the debate.
As members are aware, an important part of our parliamentary work is to give a voice to people who undertake important work in our communities. That is particularly relevant when we are speaking about the work of Marie Curie Cancer Care, which delivers vital assistance to people who are suffering from cancer and—as Linda Fabiani mentioned—other terminal illnesses.
Marie Curie has published some interesting figures on the work that it has recently undertaken. Some of the numbers in its briefing are quite mind-blowing. In 2012-13, it assisted more than 38,000 people across the United Kingdom and almost 4,500 people in Scotland, and spent more than 1.3 million hours caring for terminally ill patients and their families. That was, of course, made possible through the vital contribution of thousands of volunteers. Last year’s daffodil appeal generated £6.6 million in funding, and 98 per cent of people who used Marie Curie’s service rated it as good or excellent, which clearly demonstrates that it has a commitment to professionalism and high-quality care.
However, there are aspects of the organisation’s contribution that are not quantifiable and which are not reflected in the statistics; it is not possible to express in figures the gratitude of families and carers who are given advice and support in their time of need, nor is it possible to quantify the feelings of companionship and comfort that patients experience as a result of the care that Marie Curie offers in one of the most difficult periods of a person’s life.
Marie Curie’s services are always free to patients and their families, but that requires fundraising of some £10,000 per hour every day in order to enable it to continue to provide that level of service. Funding for nursing services and hospices is allocated on a 50:50 basis in partnership with the national health service, but much of the £93 million that Marie Curie spends every year on care and research and development comes from the generous donations of the public, so it is entirely appropriate that Linda Fabiani’s motion recognises that and the important contribution of volunteers to making all those things possible.
I am pleased that many of the unsung fundraising heroes are in my region of West Scotland. For example, funding groups in Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and East Dunbartonshire work alongside Marie Curie shops in Port Glasgow, Largs, Alexandria, Bearsden and Saltcoats.
Stewart Maxwell mentions fundraising in West Scotland. I do not know whether he is aware that, only a couple of weeks ago, I had a Saturday night out that involved me walking over fire for Marie Curie. I have done many things over the years. Some of Marie Curie’s members from Paisley are here today, including Jane Evans, who is a good friend of mine. She was one of the people who asked me to do that. I think that they are here to pick up the money, so I ask everyone to remember to sign my sponsor sheet when they go to tonight’s event.
I thank George Adam for that intervention—or rather, that advert for his fire-walking experience. I am sure that many members will contribute; I am certainly happy to do so. Indeed, I am sure that many of us would spend even more money to see him walk over fire again.
Individual participation in Marie Curie events such as the 10km walk at Pollok country park also assists in delivering the £6.5 million of funding that allows Marie Curie to finance its hospice and nursing care services in Scotland.
I would like to welcome some of the on-going work that Marie Curie is undertaking. In particular, I highlight the move to enable more people to be in the comfort of their own home when they pass away. Studies that have been highlighted by Marie Curie show that a majority of people would prefer that option, so I welcome measures that help to fulfil patients’ wishes in that respect and I note that significant progress has already been made, with seven out of 10 people who are cared for by Marie Curie nurses passing away in their own homes. Moreover, an independent study of the experiences of 30,000 people in Marie Curie’s care provided strong evidence that patients who receive such care are more likely to be able to die in their own homes and are less likely to have to go to hospital.
I also welcome some of the other work that Marie Curie is pursuing, including moves to widen access for minority groups—for example, those who, as Linda Fabiani mentioned, are moving from children’s to adult services—the expansion of services related to terminal illnesses other than cancer, and the expansion of the Marie Curie helper service. All are worthwhile measures that will continue to improve Marie Curie’s already excellent standards of care.
Finally, I reiterate my thanks to Marie Curie’s volunteers for all their dedication and commitment to the organisation and the patients for whom it cares.
17:20
I, too, thank Linda Fabiani for lodging the motion, which once again recognises Marie Curie Cancer Care’s great daffodil appeal, and I should say that the debate follows a debate that I sponsored last September on Marie Curie Cancer Care’s signpost to palliative care.
It is now getting on for 30 years since the great daffodil appeal was launched and I am sure that in two years’ time we will have a great celebration to mark that anniversary. As we have heard, the appeal has raised more than £70 million across the UK, with £4 million a year raised in Scotland alone.
Each March, many of us wear the distinctive daffodil that is the symbol of Marie Curie Cancer Care. I do not mean to be disparaging when I say that, apart from the poppy that I wear in November, I do not tend to wear any other badge that signifies a charity. That does not mean that I do not support other organisations or charities, but I have a particular affinity with the tremendous work that Marie Curie nurses perform.
At the core of Marie Curie Cancer Care is an emphasis on helping people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible or on providing the right environment in which palliative care meets the needs of individual patients. We are fortunate in Scotland to have two excellent Marie Curie hospices, one in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow, that cater for a range of people who are facing the end of life because of cancer or other terminal illnesses.
I am aware of the huge work that Marie Curie undertakes in my North East Scotland region and was fascinated by some of the statistics that Richard Meade, the head of policy and public affairs for Marie Curie in Scotland, gave me. A remarkable 88 per cent of patients looked after by Marie Curie Cancer Care who live within the NHS Grampian area and a further 91 per cent of people in NHS Tayside were able to die in their preferred place of death, whether that was at home, in hospital or in a hospice.
The 24/7 provision of planned Marie Curie nursing care and the rapid response team that covers Aberdeenshire are a testament to the dedication of its staff, and it is also worth noting that, last year, the 1,700 Marie Curie patients in the north-east received 9,559 visits from Marie Curie nurses, who provided more than 25,000 hours of support and care to patients in the Grampian region.
Of course, we cannot forget the community fundraising groups right across Scotland and particularly, for me, in the north-east that raise so much money for Marie Curie Cancer Care. In my region, those groups stretch from Ellon and the Garioch in rural Aberdeenshire to the heart of the Mearns in Angus—and I should say that I see two friends of mine from upper Deeside sitting in the gallery.
In the debate that I led on Marie Curie Cancer Care’s work, my motion specifically focused on what I described as a difficulty in discussing death and dying. I reiterate what I said at the time: we should not be afraid to talk about death and particularly about cancer-related illnesses and the consequences of the devastating news that a condition is terminal.
I will finish by mentioning my friend and former colleague, David McLetchie, who as we know succumbed to cancer last year. His bravery in dealing with his illness is well known and the fact that he attended the Parliament almost until the end of his life has been acknowledged by many members across the chamber. The care and dedication given to cancer sufferers at St Columba’s hospice in Edinburgh, where David spent his last days, is recognised throughout Scotland, and we are very grateful for its work.
Like many charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care plays a very important role in dealing with the effects of cancer and other terminal illnesses. However, despite the many families that have had to deal with this kind of devastating diagnosis, we are still inclined to avoid talking about its consequences.
I am grateful to Linda Fabiani for bringing this debate to the chamber, to Marie Curie for its tremendous work in supporting the patients and families who have to cope with the multiple problems of terminal illness and to the loyal fundraisers who raise so much money for the organisation.
17:24
I join other members in congratulating Linda Fabiani on securing this members’ business debate on a great issue. I also, of course, congratulate Marie Curie Cancer Care on its daffodil campaign, which, as members have already noted, raises £4 million in Scotland every year. I hope that the 2014 appeal is just as successful as previous appeals. However, we should not forget that staff and volunteers continue that work throughout the year in Marie Curie charity shops and through local fundraising events. None of what the Marie Curie nurses do on the ground with patients could be achieved without that team effort.
Marie Curie nurses are the very definition of care. At a time when people face losing a loved one, their kindness of spirit and nursing expertise in what should be seen as a specialist area of healthcare are immensely comforting to families and patients in their last days, weeks and months of life.
The fantastic team effort meant that, in 2012-13 in South Scotland, which I represent, Marie Curie Cancer Care saw 663 patients and made 4,333 visits. Through the care and support of Marie Curie nurses, 95 per cent of their patients in NHS Ayrshire and Arran were able to pass away in their preferred place of death. In Lanarkshire, the figure was 92 per cent; in the Borders, it was 94 per cent; in the Lothians, it was 96 per cent; and in Dumfries and Galloway, it was 79 per cent. Those patients were able to choose how they wanted to die, thanks to Marie Curie Cancer Care and the fundraising groups in Ayrshire, Stranraer, the Machars, Kirkcudbright, Melrose, Kelso, Galashiels, Berwickshire, Gretna, Hawick, Peeblesshire, Dumfriesshire, the DG5 area, Moffat, Castle Douglas, Selkirk and North Berwick.
I recently had the pleasure of attending a panel discussion on palliative and end-of-life care that was organised by the Marie Curie team. It was clear from that discussion that palliative care is one of the areas of healthcare that people—patients, relatives and family members alike—find it difficult to talk about. That is not an easy problem to solve, because in essence it involves challenging our society’s fear of death and dying. It also raises the question of our own mortality. However, what came out of that discussion for me was that it is possible to have a peaceful and—dare I say—good death, in which the patient feels in control and is medicated appropriately, and in which their dignity is maintained.
For that to happen, it is clear that earlier identification and intervention are needed in considering patients as candidates for palliative care. We all know the shocking figure that only one in five non-cancer patients is referred on for palliative care and that, sadly, in many cases that intervention is made too late for some patients to truly benefit from the care. That is especially concerning as we face the challenges of an ageing population. We know that general practitioners and other healthcare staff find it hard to discuss death and dying with patients, so let us ensure that they are properly supported to do so.
With the integration of health and social care, we have an opportunity to tackle head on the issues of patient choice and improving patient access to palliative care. Indeed, much was said last week in the Public Bodies (Joint Working) (Scotland) Bill debate about engaging with the third sector that I fully support. In that context, I wonder whether we now have a chance to tie that in with further progress on the Scottish Government’s living and dying well action plan and the subsequent 2012 update report, both of which underline the key issues for continued focus in addressing the issue of palliative and end-of-life care. I look forward to the minister perhaps addressing that.
I wish Marie Curie Cancer Care good luck in its daffodil appeal and hope that it breaks all fundraising records this year. I thank it for the vital work that I know that it does.
17:28
I thank Linda Fabiani for bringing the motion to Parliament and welcome the opportunity to talk about Marie Curie Cancer Care’s great daffodil appeal 2014.
As one of the UK’s largest charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care has endeavoured to raise money every year since 1986 to support those who suffer from terminal illness. I believe that everyone who is unfortunate enough to be faced with that diagnosis has a right to high-quality, patient-friendly and emotionally supportive palliative care. Marie Curie Cancer Care undoubtedly fulfils those criteria by delivering high-quality services while prioritising patients’ wishes. In providing free end-of-life care, it plays a significant role for patients in allowing them to choose the kind of end-of-life care they would prefer. That choice provides care that puts patients and their families first and allows patients to die in their homes surrounded by their loved ones if that is what they want.
Despite that exemplary work, every five minutes in the UK someone dies without getting the care that they deserve. According to research that was commissioned by Marie Curie, 65 per cent of the people concerned would choose to die at home. However, the reality is that only 25 per cent receive the opportunity to do so. Providing more palliative care at home would ease the burden on the healthcare system. Statistical data from 2013 estimates that if community services were put in place for 30,000 more patients, the potential saving to the NHS would be as high as £34 million.
The great daffodil appeal is of such great importance because it not only raises money to provide nursing for those affected by terminal illnesses but helps to develop strategies to tackle successfully the challenges facing an ageing society. As with most areas in Scotland, my constituency of Kirkcaldy is confronted with finding solutions for sustaining an effective healthcare system for the increasing number of citizens who are aged over 75. At the moment, Marie Curie Cancer Care is in partnership with NHS Fife to deliver suitable services for around 3,000 people requiring palliative care. However, a majority of them still die in hospital, which shows the potential for further increasing home nursing in the future.
Cognisant of those statistics, Marie Curie Cancer Care and NHS Scotland, with the help of Michael Matheson, the Minister for Public Health, recently launched a new initiative in Kirkcaldy called the helper programme, which is due to begin in Fife on 1 April. The aim of the programme is to further improve palliative services by training volunteers who will provide companionship and emotional support for at least three hours each week to at least 240 patients a year. After a pilot trial in Fife, the initiative will be expanded to the rest of the country, thus strengthening the partnership between the volunteer community and the NHS.
Volunteers are also integral to the success of the great daffodil appeal. Their efforts in raising awareness of the importance of palliative care and helping to foster support for the terminally ill and the Marie Curie organisation itself by encouraging people to wear a daffodil pin are of paramount importance in the collection of the £4 million that is raised every year in Scotland. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be able to join the volunteers at the Marie Curie Cancer Care stand in the Mercat shopping centre in Kirkcaldy. I was heartened and pleased by the generosity of shoppers. At the end of the day, the collection tins were filled with donations. I will be helping again with this year’s appeal.
I wish Marie Curie Cancer Care and all volunteers who are involved across Scotland the best of luck in the great daffodil appeal 2014. Their efforts truly deserve our full gratitude and support. I offer my family’s gratitude to Marie Curie’s staff and volunteers because, for the second time in a short space of time, we will be calling on their services.
17:32
I begin in the traditional way by congratulating Linda Fabiani on securing this important debate to celebrate the great daffodil appeal 2014.
I have the privilege to represent the constituency where the Glasgow Marie Curie hospice is based. It is fair to say that the Marie Curie hospice at Stobhill is an important part of the communities of north Glasgow and very highly regarded throughout Glasgow and beyond.
Most of us will know someone who has benefited from the services that Marie Curie offers people in their own home or in one of its hospices. Many of us think of cancer when we think of Marie Curie, but of course the organisation provides care and support to people suffering from terminal illness no matter what it might be. Figures supplied to us by Marie Curie suggest that as many as eight out of 10 non-cancer patients with a terminal illness are not accessing palliative care and that many who manage to get palliative care do so only in the latter stages of their illness. I can only agree with Marie Curie when it says:
“We need to do much more to end the inequality of access.”
As Malcolm Chisholm said earlier, given Scotland’s ageing population, the number of people who are going to be living longer with terminal conditions is bound to rise. Marie Curie is right to suggest that we must keep under review the framework that is in place to support the care for them.
I have had the opportunity to meet the staff and some patients of my local hospice and to speak to some people who are living at home with their illness but who visit the hospice for group discussion, exercise and complementary therapies. I must say that I personally very much look forward to the home baking that is always on offer when I visit the hospice. I am sure that that is true also for anyone who knows the Glasgow hospice.
Programmes of care are drawn up for patients after discussion between them and a specialist nurse or doctor and are individual to the patient. To me, it is that individualisation that makes the kind of care that Marie Curie offers so important. When we speak to someone who uses Marie Curie, the overwhelming feeling that they describe is one of care and support, but it also seems to me that the care gives the patient confidence to continue to live a good life, because they know that Marie Curie is there for them and their families when it is needed.
The diagnosis of a terminal condition is always hard for family members, and many struggle to come to terms with it. Sometimes, the family of the terminally ill person do not recognise that they, too, need help. They might need support or advice or even just a safe place to blow off some steam. Marie Curie is there for them too, but we as legislators must remember that group of people when we discuss policies that affect carers.
All that excellent work takes money, much of which comes from fundraising, as we have heard, and the annual daffodil appeal is an important element of that effort. More than £70 million has been raised across the UK as a result of the annual appeal, and the efforts of the army of fundraisers, volunteers and professionals must be recognised. Marie Curie shops are well known—there is one in the Springburn shopping centre in my constituency, not too far from the Marie Curie hospice. However, I want to talk about volunteers in an individual way, too.
In the past few months, one of my constituents, Bobby Hetherington, retired as a volunteer fundraiser. I will not give away his age; let us just say that he reached pensionable age quite some time ago. For more than 25 years, he organised annual dances, sold raffle tickets and did everything that he could to support his local Marie Curie hospice, raising tens of thousands of pounds in the process.
Mr Hetherington would hate me to single him out—in fact, he will probably have words with me when he next sees me—but I do so because he happens to be the voluntary fundraiser I know best and he is typical of so many others who work away quietly in their communities to make sure that support and care are there when we need them. We owe all of them and the staff of Marie Curie a debt of gratitude.
Finally, I call Jamie McGrigor.
17:37
Thank you, Presiding Officer, for allowing me to make a last-minute contribution, albeit a short one.
I congratulate Linda Fabiani, and I declare an interest as I am a patron of Marie Curie Cancer Care, which I consider a great honour. Some members might remember the book of MSPs’ recipes that I compiled and published a few years ago, which raised some £17,000 for Marie Curie. I hope that it did not give too many people indigestion. There were some priceless cartoons by Brian Adcock in the book that have a timeless quality. Perhaps we should do a rerun of it to try to raise some more money.
Marie Curie and her husband were incredibly brave people who were pioneers in the world of radiation. They literally gave their lives to ensure that future generations could benefit from their efforts on X-rays. They must have known that they were killing themselves, but their desire to bring people relief and to invent cures kept the Marie Curie flame burning. That flame is now represented by the daffodil emblem, and it has never been extinguished.
We must all be grateful to Marie Curie and her husband, and now to the wonderful nurses and volunteers who maintain this fabulous charity that does nothing but inspire good in people.
I now invite Michael Matheson to respond to the debate.
17:38
Like others, I congratulate Linda Fabiani on securing time for this important debate that recognises the important work that Marie Curie Cancer Care undertakes across our communities in Scotland.
Particularly in sharing their experiences, members have illustrated very well the way in which Marie Curie works effectively with individuals and families during what are often the final stages of an individual’s life. It does so in a way that is very much focused on being person centred and providing the individual with safe and effective care at that difficult time in their life. On the Scottish Government’s behalf, I thank all the staff and volunteers who undertake a tremendous amount of work over the year to provide such excellent care.
I recognise that, for Marie Curie and many other voluntary organisations, campaigns such as the daffodil appeal are key in helping them to obtain the necessary funding to provide the care that families across the country need when they go through difficult times. I recognise the invaluable role that some 4,000 volunteers play each year in helping Marie Curie to realise its ambition of providing first-class care and support to individuals and families.
The Government’s aim is that, by 2020, everyone will be able to live longer and healthier lives at home or in a homely setting. Marie Curie Cancer Care, working closely with our NHS in Scotland and with other voluntary organisations, has a fundamental role in helping us to realise that aim.
The key to achieving the aim is to work effectively and to work in partnership with individuals on what they feel best suits their needs, rather than tell them what to do. We want the development of services in Scotland that are founded on joint agreement with the communities and individuals whom they are there to support, and we want everyone to understand where we are going and why that is the best approach.
The need for a clear vision on the future of palliative and end-of-life care is widely recognised by the Scottish Government, NHS boards and colleagues across a range of organisations, including those in the third sector. The national action plan “Living and Dying Well”, to which some members have referred, has proven successful in raising awareness of the need for high-quality palliative and end-of-life care and has brought together a range of stakeholders and groups to agree on the requirements for change.
One of the best approaches that we can take to sustain further improvements is to support the development of a strategic framework for action that is linked to our 2020 vision for health and social care, which will help to ensure that our commitment to high-quality palliative and end-of-life care for all is clear to everyone who is involved in such care. There is general agreement that the development of the strategic framework for action will provide the clear and strong message that is required to support the future focus for such care.
The Government is committed to supporting a wide range of organisations and clinical and care staff to spread reliably and sustainably the good practice that is necessary to achieve the aims. The Government is working with the living and dying well national advisory group to support key stakeholders by setting out how they can apply “The 3-Step Improvement Framework for Scotland’s Public Services” to the changes that they identify in supporting the strategic framework.
In the past couple of weeks, we have passed legislation to integrate health and social care. That legislation will set in place a framework for how services must better organise themselves to work in partnership, and it will be central to realising better palliative and end-of-life care provision. Close working between our acute sector, our community sector, social work services and third sector organisations will ensure that we get the balance right, particularly at key points in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care.
I am conscious that a key part of the discussion about how we improve palliative and end-of-life care is tackling public attitudes to such care. We need to address effectively the taboo that exists—here in Scotland and in other parts of the world—about discussing issues that are to do with death and dying.
The Government supports the good work that the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care is taking forward on the good life, good death, good grief initiative, with its vision of a Scottish society in which people are able to talk about death and deal constructively with related issues. If we are to achieve that vision, we must ensure that that dialogue goes on. It can help to prevent unnecessary suffering and the financial and practical complications that can be associated with death.
The absence of effective advance care planning can result in inappropriate admissions to hospital, as we heard, futile and distressing medical interventions and, at times, the isolation of the very ill and bereaved, when families and individuals are uncomfortable about talking about the issues.
That is why it is extremely important that we get much better at anticipatory care. Anticipatory care planning is now central to health and care in Scotland, and the approach is growing as a result of its inclusion in new quality indicators in the GP contract.
We must get it right for patients who have cancer. It is also important that we improve palliative care provision for people who have other conditions. As Nanette Milne said, a debate on the issue in September highlighted that point.
My view, and the view of the Scottish Government, is that by working together we can make more progress in the provision of palliative care. We cannot afford to be complacent; much more needs to be done. The Government remains committed to delivering high-quality palliative and end-of-life care. I hope that this year’s daffodil appeal is a tremendous success and that Marie Curie Cancer Care is able to continue the invaluable work that it does in communities throughout Scotland, day in and day out.
Meeting closed at 17:47.Previous
Decision Time