Official Report 1138KB pdf
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-17186, in the name of Meghan Gallacher, on the best start new model of neonatal care. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
I advise members that Jackie Baillie has lodged an amendment to the motion. Amendments to members’ business motions are admissible, but are not taken in the chamber.
I invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons, and I call Meghan Gallacher to open the debate.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the view that it is vitally important to ensure that the Best Start new model of neonatal care delivers the highest standards of care for the most vulnerable babies, including those in the Central Scotland region; further notes the view that implementation of this new model must prioritise the safety of babies, be underpinned by adequate and sustained funding, including for appropriate staffing levels, and include sufficient provision of overnight accommodation for parents on neonatal units; understands the view that families require reassurance that changes to services will improve outcomes and not compromise access to specialised care, and notes the calls for the Scottish Government to provide an update on progress towards implementation of the new model of neonatal care and a timescale for when the new model will be fully operational, to clarify whether there are any expected changes to the plans, as announced by the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health on 25 July 2023, and to set out how it will ensure that what it sees as these essential criteria, including provision of overnight accommodation, are met in line with its planned timescale.
17:55
Before I begin my remarks, I take the opportunity to thank the team at Bliss Scotland for working with me to lodge the motion in Parliament.
I first raised issues surrounding the best start new model of neonatal care back in September 2023. News had broken of the intention to downgrade Wishaw general hospital’s neonatal department, in my region. That provoked a strong backlash from communities in Lanarkshire, especially from families who had received care and support from the award-winning team at the hospital.
A campaign group, led by the Wishaw neonatal warriors, has said that the plans would be “catastrophic” as expectant mums and their babies will need to travel to other hospitals to receive specialist care. The online petition has now surpassed 25,000 signatures, which is testament to the strength of feeling against this ill-thought-out decision.
At the time, I warned the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health that
“Lanarkshire mums ... are the feisty type”,
and said that I knew that they would continue to fight against the downgrade
“every step of the way.”—[Official Report, 20 September 2023; c 98.]
They will continue to have my support, as I do not believe that Government ministers have truly considered the lasting impact of this decision on parents and their newborn babies, nor does the national health service have the adequate or sustained staffing levels to achieve the new model of neonatal care.
The best start model was first introduced in 2017, yet, eight years on, the new model has not been fully implemented and the resources that are needed to implement it safely while providing support to families have not been delivered in full. There remains great uncertainty over when or how full implementation of the neonatal model, as confirmed by the minister in July 2023, will take place. That is simply not good enough.
One in seven babies in the United Kingdom require some level of neonatal care after birth, and the care that they receive is vital to their long-term health. Approximately 5,200 babies are admitted to neonatal units in Scotland each year, and the care that they receive is often life-saving, but it can also be deeply traumatic for babies and their families. Babies, who have just opened their eyes for the first time, not only are adapting to their new surroundings but are exposed to stress and pain as a result of requiring additional care.
One of the main issues that I wish to raise concerns facilities for parents. I have just mentioned how deeply traumatising neonatal care is for parents and babies, yet, moments after giving birth, mums are routinely separated from their babies for extended periods, as most hospitals do not provide sufficient facilities to enable parents to stay overnight. That is undoubtedly detrimental to the health of not just the newborn baby, but of worried parents, who just want to be close so that they can comfort their child. The lack of that early contact can disrupt bonding and heighten stress, with an impact on both emotional wellbeing and physical development such as breastfeeding initiation.
Why, therefore, do we not have overnight accommodation for parents on neonatal wards? It is not easy for parents having to travel long distances to stay with their baby in a hospital overnight, especially when more than one child is involved. Indeed, the Bliss families kept apart campaign in Scotland found that for one in every 10 babies who need to stay overnight on a unit, there is only one room for a parent to stay with them. In 2025, that is scandalous.
Alternative arrangements are considered, but that usually comes at a cost to parents, who might not be able to afford to stay in a nearby hotel. There appear to be no solutions to provide parents with the reassurance that they will be able to stay by their newborn’s side. Regardless of whether the Scottish Government continues with what I feel is the wrong move in downgrading neonatal departments across Scotland, it must still ensure that there is overnight accommodation to enable parents to stay with their babies. Otherwise, it is willingly advocating for the sickest newborn babies to be separated from their parents. That would be not only morally wrong, but unforgivable, should any parent learn of a deterioration in their baby’s health without being close by.
Therefore, I call on the minister to commit today to ensuring that every hospital that is currently specialising in neonatal care has the appropriate accommodation for parents. That is essential for any new model of neonatal care. I cannot believe that we are even having this discussion today—it is just basic common sense.
The implementation of the best start model recommendations in the report “The Best Start—A Five-year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care in Scotland” has been painfully slow. Even if people do not agree with all of those recommendations, the fact is that families who might be affected in the future—and, critically, the staff working in neonatal services departments across Scotland—deserve to know how long the new model will take to implement. If the Scottish Government is truly committed to providing high-quality care to the sickest babies, it needs to get a move on.
Ministers cannot continue to bury their heads in the sand over the downgrading of neonatal services. Regardless of whatever evidence they say has been produced, it is clear that communities are against the move, and ministers have ignored the fact that receiving care further from home can reduce parents’ ability to be partners in their baby’s care. In addition, ministers cannot overlook the need to ensure that overnight accommodation is provided to parents so that they can always be with their babies.
The minister must set out what the Government sees as essential criteria in the best start model, including adequate staffing provision, and the timescale for full implementation. Uncertainty causes alarm, and this debate provides an opportunity for the Scottish Government to outline those next steps today.
In my previous contribution on this topic, I said that the reason that I feel so passionately about the issue
“is because I am a mum.”—[Official Report, 20 September 2023; c 96.]
I will continue to push the Scottish Government to improve neonatal services across Scotland.
We move to the open debate. I call Clare Adamson, who joins us remotely.
18:02
The birth of a new baby is one of the most exciting times in a family. There is nothing more precious than the birth of a baby, and for parents and families, concerns for safety around that time are huge. As a mother and a step-grandmum, I understand those concerns only too well, and I share the concerns of my constituents in that regard. However, for people who have had to go through the most difficult experience of pre-term birth, when their hope is simply to celebrate a new family member, it must be heartbreaking, and I can only imagine their stress and worry.
I am very proud of the record of the team at the neonatal unit in University hospital Wishaw, in my constituency. The care and support offered during an acutely difficult and uncertain time is invaluable to families, so I know why the issue brings up such strong feelings and can be emotive.
Nevertheless, we have a responsibility not to add fuel to the fire of that anxiety. We all want the best outcomes for constituents, and for new families at an uncertain time. I know without a doubt that every one of my colleagues, whatever their party affiliation, wants the best for their constituents. As policy makers, however, we have to be guided by the evidence. We cannot ignore the clinical expertise; the Scottish Government cannot do so either, and nor should it.
I agree with many of Meghan Gallacher’s points, and I know of her commitment in this area. I agree with the substantive points about implementation, and the need for assurance and certainty about the way forward. We all want a new model of care to have the very best standards, driven by clinical recommendations that seek the best life chances for babies, including the best chances for the sickest babies and for those for whom an early pre-term birth is predicted.
The clinical analysis with which we have all been presented shows that, in order to achieve the best outcomes for the small number of very premature babies, care is best delivered in units that regularly see the most complex cases and have ready access to specialist support services. Without a doubt, the new model must be underpinned by adequate and sustainable funding, as must all our public health services. Providing reassurance to new parents is critical, too, and in that respect, issues such as overnight accommodation, access to specialist support and certainty that their baby will receive the best possible care will all be crucial to making a success of the new national model.
In 2017, the “Best Start” report was published, with recommendations on a new model of neonatal care based on the British Association of Perinatal Medicine’s definitions of levels of care, and proposals to move from the current model of eight neonatal intensive care units to a model of three units, supported by the continuation of the current units. That is important: the three specialist intensive care units are to be supported by the current neonatal units, including the one at Wishaw. It is a redesign of the system, and Wishaw will be designated as a local neonatal unit, still providing care for neonatal babies.
The three proposed neonatal intensive care units in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are units that have already conducted specialist services, including neonatal surgery, which is not available at Wishaw, as it has neither the capacity nor the expertise to facilitate it. The redesign of services will not affect the vast majority of those attending the local prenatal unit at Wishaw.
In the example of Wishaw, the changes have been said to apply to a tiny minority of one or two babies per month, who are most at risk and whose survival chances would be improved in one of the three specialist units. All local neonatal units across Scotland will continue to provide that care for babies born later than 27 weeks.
The options appraisal happened in 2023, and the recommendations for the new neonatal model of care are underpinned by strong evidence that population outcomes for the most premature and sickest babies are improved by delivery and care in units that look after a critical mass of such babies. Under the new model of care, it is intended that mothers who it is suspected will have an extreme pre-term labour will be transferred before labour—and preferably before giving birth—to the maternity unit at one of the hospitals with intensive care expertise, allowing mother and baby to receive the best care.
We know that, practically, that will not always be possible, and reassurance based on other cases is vital. In the circumstances where that has not happened, a specialist neonatal transport—
Ms Adamson, I must ask you to bring your remarks to a close, please, because you are quite a wee bit over your time. Thank you.
Oh—my apologies, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the people who work in the Wishaw neonatal unit, and I look forward to hearing the minister’s response to the queries that Ms Gallacher and I have raised.
18:09
I am happy to speak on this important topic, and I congratulate my colleague, Meghan Gallacher, on bringing the debate to the chamber.
What could be more important to a country than providing the best start in life for all children? I cannot imagine the fear and anxiety that any parent will experience when they find out that their baby will be delivered before the due date and will need specialist neonatal care to help them thrive—or even, unfortunately, to survive. Nonetheless, that is the case for one in seven babies born in the UK.
What that means is that approximately 5,200 babies are admitted to neonatal units in Scotland every year, and that more than 5,000 families are facing the worst circumstances for their newly born baby that they can imagine. They put all their trust and hopes in the skills of the highly trained staff, knowing that they are in no position to provide the levels of care that are needed. Their beautiful new baby is suffering, but there is nothing that they can do about it. The feeling of helplessness must be overwhelming.
I have not had to experience that situation, but I think that we can all empathise with the panic and stress that must arise from it. It is what led to the review of the best start new model of neonatal care, the report of which was published back in 2017, and reaffirmed by the minister in 2023. We might have concerns about the downgrading of some of the neonatal units, but we are halfway through 2025 and so much more still needs to be done, with staffing levels and accommodation for parents still needing intense focus.
I thank Bliss for giving me sight of its briefing for today’s debate. It was really worrying to read of an 88 per cent shortfall in Scotland between the recommended AHPPP—or allied health professionals and psychological and pharmacy professionals—staffing levels in units and the staffing levels that are being achieved. That is 20 per cent worse than the UK average, and I hope that the minister will address that particular issue in her closing remarks.
Another worrying statistic in the briefing concerns accommodation. The briefing highlights that, for every 10 babies needing to stay overnight in a unit, there is only one room for a parent to stay with them. That means that parents are routinely separated overnight from their newborn during their time in neonatal care. The stress that I mentioned in my opening remarks can be only heightened when distances and lack of family support are factored into the emotional mix. The costs involved will be prohibitive, with accommodation, food and travel costs all having to be met, especially as getting funding for those costs, although welcome, is a cumbersome process. I hope that the minister will take on board the recommendations from the Bliss briefing, not only to address the staffing and residential shortfalls but to provide a much-needed timetable for the implementation of the agreed neonatal model.
In conclusion, I acknowledge the work that has been done, as far as it goes, and as much as we might have concerns about the part of it that goes in the wrong direction of downgrading, I stress the urgency of moving forward at pace with the staffing and accommodation aspects. For every child who deserves to have the best start in neonatal care, we, in this place, should ensure that the correct staffing levels are in place to guarantee that that happens. For every parent who has to deal with emotional stress when they should be rejoicing in the birth of their beautiful child, we, in this place, should minimise the additional stress factors as much as possible. For every family facing this situation, we, in this place, should ensure that there is clarity and commitment for the future. That is the very least that we can do.
18:13
I thank Meghan Gallacher for bringing the debate to chamber and I commend her for her speech. The Labour amendment is intended not to take anything away from any part of her motion, but to enhance it by talking about the Wishaw neonatal unit, which is an issue that she has addressed herself.
“When you have a child in neonatal intensive care you don’t know what to expect. The family could be called in at any minute to say goodbye. What happens if their child is 200 miles away?”
Those are the words of Lynne McRitchie, whose newborn son, Innes, spent four months in Wishaw’s neonatal unit, fighting off infections and sepsis.
In those first anxious days, Lynne was told that Innes could die at any moment. Innes is now six years old, and Lynne is one of the Wishaw neonatal warriors, raising her voice in concern at the Scottish National Party’s plan to downgrade the neonatal unit that saved her baby’s life. That decision is opposed by everybody, from clinical staff and local communities to the former SNP Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Alex Neil. It is a thoughtless centralisation of neonatal care that means that the sickest babies could be transferred to Aberdeen, a three-hour journey away, because there is insufficient capacity at Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The SNP Government says that it is following expert advice, so I remind the minister what the “Best Start” report actually said. It stated:
“Three to five neonatal intensive care units should be developed, supported by 10 to 12 local neonatal and special care units.”
Five neonatal intensive care units could easily include NHS Lanarkshire, as Scotland’s third-largest health board. It could easily include the neonatal multidisciplinary team at University hospital Wishaw, which was named the UK neonatal team of 2023. Why, therefore, did the SNP Government interpret the best start recommendation as narrowly as possible, and stop at three specialist units?
The best start proposals offered a vision in which mothers and babies receive
“truly family-centred ... and compassionate ... care”
and noted—as Meghan Gallacher did in her speech—
“The benefits of keeping mothers and babies together”.
I will quote Lynne McRitchie again. She said:
“They talk about keeping families together but parents have not been consulted on these plans.
Mums and babies should not be separated and if there is not enough accommodation at these hospitals then that is what will happen.
Parents would have to stay in hotels. Mums are often discharged before a baby and if there is nowhere for them to stay what will they do?”
The “Best Start” report pledged to redesign services
“using the best available evidence”,
but NHS Lanarkshire was not represented in the options appraisal process, nor did the decision makers use data from the existing neonatal unit in Wishaw. They did not take account of the existing skills and knowledge in Wishaw, nor did they acknowledge the comparatively high number of premature babies being delivered in Lanarkshire.
The evidence for that devastating decision is, therefore, shaky at best, while those to whom it matters most feel left in the dark.
Monica Sheen is another Lanarkshire mum. On multiple occasions, she got the call that every parent dreads: to come to the hospital to say goodbye to her premature son, Alfie. She described the five-minute journey to the hospital as
“the longest of your life”
and said:
“I can't imagine what a three-hour journey to say goodbye would be like”.
Thankfully, Alfie pulled through, but local people, clinical workers and families are all clear that the facility must be protected for the babies of the future. Will the minister therefore scrap the proposed downgrading of the neonatal intensive care unit at University hospital Wishaw? It is in the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care’s backyard. Will he do anything—anything at all—to protect the interests of vulnerable babies and their parents across Lanarkshire? If not, how will the SNP Government ensure that mums and babies like Monica and Alfie can stay together at the most frightening time in their lives?
18:17
I, too, thank my colleague, Meghan Gallacher, for securing parliamentary time to debate such an important topic.
The centralisation of neonatal intensive care is causing massive concern among clinicians. Families have said that it could be catastrophic; there has been strong criticism of the arbitrary scoring mechanism; and it means that new parents to premature and seriously ill babies, at the most vulnerable point in their lives, could—as we have heard today—have to travel miles to visit them, in such difficult circumstances. Tragically, one parent said:
“you don’t know what to expect. The family could be called in at any minute to say goodbye.”
I ask members to imagine having to travel for hours to Aberdeen, Edinburgh or Glasgow to do so.
I pay tribute to campaigners who are fighting to stop the downgrading of existing facilities. The service at Ninewells hospital in Dundee, in my region, is one of those facilities. For more than 50 years, Ninewells has had a first-class AMU—alongside midwifery unit—with neonatal intensive care as part of that offer. The unit was refurbished in 1999. The AMU means that mums have a safety net, and a psychological boost from having access to obstetric labour suites, specialists and equipment almost at their bedside. The Dundee midwifery unit is separate from the obstetric consultant unit, but it is still in the hospital, which allows for easy access to medical support if that is needed.
For years, however, there has been a centralisation of maternity services in Tayside. When the Fyfe Jamieson maternity hospital in Forfar closed in 1993, it was to be replaced by a midwifery service at the new Whitehills health and community care centre. That did not last long before it closed, and mums were sent to Montrose and Arbroath.
When the Montrose community maternity unit shut in 2016 because of a lack of staff, that was supposedly for three months, but it never reopened. Proposals for a new maternity unit that was planned for two decades were shelved in 2013. The CMU was centralised to Arbroath, and I am told that the standard of care is second to none, but it is based in a building that is more than a century old, and there is little hope of it being replaced.
Why is that relevant to Ninewells? When previous closures have taken place in Angus, it has been with the facility at Ninewells in the background, as a safety net for the most difficult births in the community. As with many of the centralised services in Tayside, specialism has come at the cost of long drives, bus journeys, ambulance trips or plain old inaccessibility for people who do not have a car.
If Ninewells loses its top status for NIC, that could lead to an insane situation in which mums with sick babies living in Dundee will be sent 66 miles away, by the A90, to Aberdeen. As most of us—and most of our constituents, including mums and fathers—know, that would involve navigating the Forfar Road and half of the Kingsway, which is often at a standstill for hours of the day. Surely resourcing NHS Tayside is the best outcome, with a focus on recruitment and retention rather than the erosion of healthcare.
Finally, if even one tragedy can be averted by having a full local NICU, why take the risk?
I call the minister, Jenni Minto, to respond to the debate.
18:22
I thank those members who have taken part in the debate. Like other members, I thank Meghan Gallacher for bringing the debate to the chamber, and I note that my door is always open for her to meet me.
Today’s discussion provides me with the opportunity to update Parliament on the progress towards implementing the new model of neonatal care. First, I commend—as other members have—the 15 incredible neonatal units that we have in Scotland, which provide, and will continue to provide, invaluable neonatal care for the babies who require it.
In each of the units that I have visited, I have been hugely impressed by the dedication of staff and the support that they provide for families in those most difficult times. The parents’ stories of the care and compassion that they have received from staff in all parts of Scotland are truly inspiring.
It is important to set out why the “Best Start” report recommended this change, and why we are moving forward with it. The report, which was based on expert clinical evidence, found that outcomes for the very smallest and sickest babies are best when they are cared for in neonatal intensive care units with high-volume throughput, and where there are co-located specialist services such as neonatal surgery.
To put it simply, the clinical advice is that making this change will improve those tiny babies’ chances of survival. Based on the number of those babies born in Scotland, three neonatal intensive care units would be the optimum model for Scotland. It is important to stress—
Will the minister give way?
I will just come to the end of this section.
It is important to stress that local neonatal units will continue to provide care to babies who need it, including a level of neonatal intensive care. That evidence is widely supported by a range of stakeholders and clinicians—including Bliss, the leading charity for babies who are born premature or sick, which members have mentioned—and now forms the basis of professional guidance that is published by the British Association for Perinatal Medicine, the professional body for neonatology and a specialty group of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
The “Best Start” report recommendation was actually for “Three to five ... units”. Why did you not include Wishaw neonatal unit? You could easily have done that, because NHS Lanarkshire is the third biggest health board. You could have had four units. Why did you not do that? That was the recommendation of experts.
Always through the chair.
I thank Jackie Baillie for her intervention; I know that she has had conversations with the cabinet secretary in that regard, and he has made it clear that the evidence that we had on the number of babies who require intensive neonatal treatment said that three was the correct number.
In this debate, we are touching on babies who are the sickest and most vulnerable, and who need the most specialist care. Those babies will benefit most from clinicians who know about that care: those who, through the frequency of caring for such babies, have specialised in such care and have an additional layer of familiarity and expertise.
Following the announcement in July 2023, we asked regional chief executives to plan for the national model to be implemented locally, with national monitoring of implementation being co-ordinated by the Scottish Government. We commissioned independent modelling work to fully map the capacity requirements across the system to support planning that was under way, and that report was published in May last year.
Since the announcement of the new model, implementation groups have been established in each region, with representation from each health board, relevant clinical groups, partners and service users. Each group now has in place a regional implementation plan that outlines local work, both planned and under way, to deliver the new model of care. Safety for the babies, families and staff is our utmost priority, which is why we have taken a phased approach to transition, allowing time to build the right levels of capacity in all areas, with NHS boards working towards full implementation by 2026.
I understand what the minister is saying. We are talking about how the implementation is going to be carried out—a lot of boards are involved, and various different people are being appointed to positions to carry it out. However, this is what parents need to know. If the Government continues with the downgrading of neonatal services and parents have to travel up to three hours to get to Aberdeen, if that is where they need to go, will there be a room for them to stay overnight with their babies, so that they can be close by should anything happen? If the answer is no, we should not be going for the downgrade.
Regarding the points that Jackie Baillie raised in relation to three or five units under the best start model, we have, again, to ask the question: why was the award-winning neonatal department at Wishaw general not included in the redesign?
I thank Meghan Gallacher for her intervention. As I said earlier, my office door is very much open. I would be very happy to have a conversation with you on the matter, because I realise how passionately you feel about it—
Minister, we all need to speak through the chair; that has applied to a number of speakers already. Otherwise, you are referring to me, and I do not think that you necessarily want a conversation with me about the matter. [Laughter.]
My apologies, Deputy Presiding Officer—and I would never refer to you as “you”.
I would be very happy to meet Ms Gallacher, and I will come to the point about accommodation later in my speech.
Over this year, we will carry on working with regional chief executives and NHS boards to continue to implement the service change. Implementation is already under way in the east region, with Fife babies transferring to Edinburgh, and in the west region, with Ayrshire babies transferred to Glasgow. We have established a task and finish group, made up of the regional chief executives, regional planners and lead clinicians, to oversee and support a suite of national actions and co-ordination that will be required for the delivery of each region’s implementation plan. That includes further work on modelling the detailed impact on maternity services, and it will inform additional maternity capacity requirements, including for transfers, theatre, ultrasound and interventions.
In order to progress the new model of neonatal care, we must do all that we can to ensure that the infrastructure, workforce and funding is in place to support and sustain the model. We are continuing to provide transitional funding to the boards that are hosting the neonatal intensive care units, as we have done for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lothian since 2019, totalling £6.5 million, and with additional support for NHS Grampian now being included. That is in addition to the £25 million of support that we have provided to all boards for implementation of the package of recommendations within best start.
The change may mean that a small number of families will have to travel further to be with their baby. The “Best Start” report recommended that
“Neonatal facilities should provide sufficient emergency overnight accommodation on the unit for parents ... with alternative overnight accommodation being made available nearby for parents of less critically ill babies.”
Considerable developments have been undertaken to ensure that mother and baby stay together and separation is minimised. All three of our neonatal intensive care units have accommodation available, both in the unit and nearby, to ensure that families can stay with their baby.
In the Bliss report on accommodation for parents of neonatal babies in the UK, the charity notes that it is clear that more needs to be done to accommodate families, and we are considering the Bliss recommendations in relation to the Scottish findings. However, I was pleased that the young patient family fund, which is available only in Scotland, was recognised as providing valuable support to families with the costs of travel, food and accommodation.
In addition, all 15 of our neonatal units are working towards implementation of the Bliss baby charter, providing neonatal units with actions and goals to develop a culture of partnership with parents. I thank all neonatal units—
Will the minister take an intervention?
I have taken two interventions already, so I would just like to continue.
I thank all neonatal units, which are committed to the Bliss baby charter, and I thank Bliss for championing and supporting on-going improvements in care. The changes that the units are making to provide the best care possible for those babies and their families are extremely commendable.
Our expectations remain clear that all women, at all times, receive high-quality, person-centred maternity care that is tailored to their needs, with quality and safety for mothers and babies central to decision making. I reassure members that, although the decision has been made, we have created opportunities to listen to parents and families as we develop plans for implementation. The Scottish Government, with the support of Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Bliss, has consulted families via an online survey and focus groups.
In closing, I reiterate that I have listened to national clinical experts, to parents of babies in neonatal care and to maternity and neonatal staff across Scotland. I am assured that the move to the new model of neonatal care will deliver the best outcomes for those very smallest and sickest babies.
I thank everyone who has taken time to speak with us. Their experience is, and will continue to be, invaluable as we take forward our work, working collaboratively to plan, deliver and transform services that are critical in delivering the best care for pregnant women, newborn babies, partners and families in Scotland.
That concludes the debate.
Meeting closed at 18:32.
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