Chamber and committees

Alex Rowley has some questions.

Thank you, Stuart. Does anybody else want to come in on what the Scottish Government could be doing to raise awareness further?

Thank you, Michelle—that was helpful.

I turn to Jane Ormerod. Do you consider that enough is being done to encourage people with long Covid to seek help?

No. We have a little bit of time. I think that Michelle Powell Gonzalez wants to come in.

We have gone slightly over time.

This has been a very informative and engaging start to our inquiry. I thank all the witnesses for their time and evidence. We will continue to take evidence in February and March before we hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care at our 16 March meeting. If the witnesses would like to give any further evidence to the committee, they can do so in writing. The clerks will be happy to liaise with them about how to do that.

The committee’s next meeting will be on 23 February, when we will continue our inquiry by looking at therapy and rehabilitation.

I am glad that the Liberal Democrats are using this parliamentary debate to address NHS dentistry in Scotland. After reading the 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat manifesto to learn a bit more about their party’s plans and ambitions for dentistry in Scotland, I am afraid to say that the Lib Dems did not mention dentistry once in that. On the other hand, back in 2021, when Covid was still very real, the SNP dedicated a whole section in our manifesto to how we can improve dentistry services, and action has already been taken.

It goes without saying that significant challenges face dentistry and our health service in Scotland, but we need to recognise the impact of the global pandemic, which has been the biggest shock to our NHS in its 74-year history. The NHS is not going to recover in a few weeks, as all the Opposition parties demand; recovery will take years.

Will I get the time back, Presiding Officer?

Apologies to the member. I will not take the intervention.

Let us dive into some facts. Right now, more than 95 per cent of people in Scotland are registered with an NHS dentist. I was shocked to learn that, back in 2007, only 44.3 per cent of people were registered with a dentist. The progress is down to the work of this SNP Government and represents a massive uptake, following years of decline under Labour and Lib Dem Governments.

Examinations and appointments are again up, following the massive backlog that was the result of the global pandemic. To date, the SNP Government has provided more than £150 million of financial support to maintain the capacity and capability of NHS dentistry. I am not sure whether Alex Cole-Hamilton is aware that, in a proactive move after the pandemic, the payment system of fee per item that incentivises NHS dental teams to see patients was reintroduced last April. Public Health Scotland statistics show how the measure has increased patient examination appointments, so that they are back to pre-pandemic levels, allowing more patients to be seen and dental practices to register more patients as they work though the pandemic backlog.

Since the SNP came into office, considerable progress has been made in dental services and oral health improvement. The Scottish Government has removed dental charges for all patients under 26—that is around 600,000 young Scots—as a first step towards scrapping charges for all in Scotland.

Partly because of that policy, our children’s oral health, particularly in deprived communities, is improving dramatically, with the primary 7 group showing better results than ever. The childsmile programme was introduced in nurseries and schools. I witnessed the programme in practice last week on a visit in Troon. Great work is being done.

We have more dentists per head of population. In Scotland, we have 59 dentists per 100,000 in comparison to 43 per 100,000 down south. Do we want more dentists? Yes. However, due to the pandemic, we had a whole year when no dental students qualified.

Immigration could play a key role in tackling the backlog. I await the groans from the Tory benches when I say that the hard, cold fact—and this is not Brexit bingo; this is not a game—is that Brexit has had a significant, detrimental impact on recruitment of health and social care staff.

I thank my colleague Ruth Maguire for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I also commend her for recently hosting a drop-in event at the Parliament for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and highlighting the end cervical cancer campaign.

Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust was set up by James Maxwell in memory of his wife, Jo, who died from cervical cancer at the age of 40 in 1999. Following Jo’s diagnosis in 1995, Jo and James had difficulty in finding good information about every aspect of cervical cancer. It was their hope that one day, everyone would have easy access to the best and most up-to-date information.

Most importantly for Jo, it was her wish that women who were affected by cervical cancer would have the opportunity to communicate with others who were facing similar challenges. It is encouraging that, more than 20 years later, Jo’s legacy still lives on, but there is still work to be done.

Funding from the Scottish Government’s screening inequality fund in 2022 is enabling the charity to offer training, information and support to health boards in Scotland in order to address inequalities in cervical screening uptake. As we have heard, sadly, women from the most deprived areas are less likely to take part in screening, with uptake of only 63 per cent in comparison with 74 per cent in the least deprived areas. As we know, younger women, particularly those aged between 25 and 29, are also less likely to attend screening. No woman should be left behind when it comes to cervical screening.

To mention someone from many years ago, of whom we are all aware, there has been a Jade Goody effect on cervical cancer screening. The reality television star lost her life to cervical cancer in 2009. Her battle was very public, with her diagnosis coming two days after she was set to appear in the Indian version of “Big Brother” in August 2008. Before her TV appearance, she had had tests for symptoms including pain in her legs and heavy bleeding. In September that year, her cancer was deemed life threatening, and she had a radical hysterectomy and started chemotherapy and radiotherapy. A documentary called “Jade’s Cancer Battle” was aired on television at that time.

She died on 22 March 2009. She was only 27, and the mother of two young boys. However, her legacy would prove to be something powerful, as we see if we take a step back. When it was first announced that her cancer was terminal, medical authorities across the whole UK announced a surge in requests from women, particularly young women, for cervical screening.

Jade Goody had the ability to reach those women that some campaigns and awareness drives just could not reach, and her fight brought home the importance of the cervical smear. Her legacy saved lives. Sadly, as time has gone on, that effect has worn off, which is why it is so important that we continue to highlight the importance of screening. It is important that women, young and old, know about the signs and symptoms of cervical cancer and the importance of taking up cervical screening when it is offered. We need to have the conversation continue. Telling personal stories can be difficult, and I applaud the bravery of everybody who is keeping the conversation alive. If it saves one life, it will have been worth it.

For some, the conversation will be a reminder but, for younger women, it might be a new conversation. Therefore, I say to every woman who might be listening to this debate that, when the smear test letter comes through your door, please ensure that you make your appointment. Yes, it can be embarrassing and it can be slightly uncomfortable, but it is over in 10 minutes and it could save your life. One in three women do not attend their smear test, and we must change that. It needs to change if we are going to save lives. Let me tell you the symptoms again: unusual bleeding, and pain in your back, your hips or your legs. Just look out for symptoms that are out of the ordinary.

As previous speakers have mentioned, each year in Scotland, 323 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 95 women lose their lives. However, 93 per cent of cervical cancers are preventable through screening—they just have to be caught in time. Therefore, I say again that, when the letter appears, please do not ignore it and please take time to book your screening, because it could save your life.

One hard, cold fact is that the rate of dentists joining the register has halved since the EU referendum. The Nuffield Trust report, “Health and Brexit: six years on”, which was published in December, describes the UK’s dentist workforce as a particular concern. It says:

“Before the EU referendum, consistently well over 500 dentists trained in the EU and EFTA registered in the UK each year. They made up around a quarter of additions to the workforce. This dropped sharply around the time of the referendum, to around half its previous level, and has never recovered.”

I am sorry. I have run out of time, Presiding Officer. I will conclude there.