Chamber and committees

Last Friday, I was at Public Health Scotland’s annual review. PHS collects a wealth of data across healthcare and, as I indicated in my opening remarks, the Scottish cardiac audit was published just yesterday. It includes some additional information on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests—this is the first year that that has been included, and we recognise the importance of it. As you pointed out in your question, that will allow us to plan better for the pathways and the support that we can give to communities.

I am pleased that PHS is able to collect that data. We are hoping that the next stage will be that health boards feed in directly to that process, as opposed to there being a two-stage approach. That is really positive and it will not only help the Scottish Government but help health boards to understand more about the needs in their communities.

I think that we, as MSPs, all have a responsibility in that regard. A few months ago, there was a debate in Parliament about that, explaining to members the importance of ensuring that the defibrillator in their area is logged on to the circuit. As Steven Short explained in his oral evidence to you, that is how the Scottish Ambulance Service can direct people to the closest defibrillator in the area.

Last Friday, I was in Oban, visiting the Happy Wee Health Club. Outside the gym, there is a defibrillator on the wall. We need to ensure that it is well known where the defibrillators that are dotted around communities are situated.

It is a target. If a target is challenging, that is great, because it challenges people to ensure—

I have had a number of conversations about that with officials and third sector organisations such as Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland and the Stroke Association. As you will know, Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland ran an awareness campaign either late last year or earlier this year that was based on the FAST guidelines.

I mentioned in my introductory remarks that, as a result of his meeting the Bundy family, the cabinet secretary asked the chief medical officer to do a piece of work on the issue. As a result, we have provided and funded an education resource—which 1,500 people from emergency departments, general practice and wider healthcare have gone through—to ensure that people are aware not only of the FAST symptoms but also of those that are not in that acronym, which can be around balance and visual impairment. That work has been done and it is continuing.

We usually tweet and do other things during awareness-raising campaigns, but I am very happy to take away that suggestion. Members also have access to the PADmap tool, and it is possible to tweet the URL for that.

It contains additional information on inherited cardiac conditions.

As I said, the UK NSC is an independent body. Our chief medical officer is represented on it, along with the other three chief medical officers. I think that the fact that we have written to the UK NSC emphasises the Scottish Government’s interest in its work timetable. As I said, however, the UK NSC makes decisions based on robust evidence that has been peer reviewed, and we need to ensure that that process is followed properly and correctly.

I am sure that Mr Ewing is aware of the impressive and thought-provoking time for reflection contribution that we heard from Cameron McGerr in the chamber a few weeks ago. I happened to be sitting next to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. The three of us have written to Cameron. I was hoping to have heard where the matter had got to, but we are hoping that a group of us, if not all three of us, will be able to meet Cameron to hear more from him about the importance of ensuring that young children receive CPR training, as he recognised.

I have also had the privilege of meeting a father and son. The son was able to save his father’s life because of the CPR training that he had received in early secondary and later in secondary school. I recognise the importance of that training. As you will appreciate, education does not sit in my portfolio, but I am content to speak further with the Cabinet Secretary for Education about the issue. We can come back to the committee once we have met Cameron McGerr.

I absolutely agree that there is no intransigence. Davy Russell pressed me on the targets, which are there because we expect to meet them. However, as knowledge changes, we need to be flexible enough to ensure that we provide the people of Scotland with the right support for their health.

If I may, I will refer to my constituency. I met community responders at the Islay show. They have a local community set-up that is led by a couple of retired GPs, who have pulled in other people who are interested, including those in the retained fire service, coastguards and people involved in the lifeboat service. Those people are very community oriented and, as a result, they are community responders. We talked about the cost of ensuring that responders have the right equipment to allow them to respond quickly, so I am very aware of that issue from my constituency.

Part of our work with Save a Life for Scotland relates to—I think that Steven Short talked about this, too—understanding how to have the right co-ordination across Scotland, so that communities understand what they need to be able to do and how to learn. I know of a retired nurse who has supported her community by ensuring that knowledge and training are maintained so that the community can respond to someone having an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

It is very much about engaging with communities and with all the Save a Life for Scotland stakeholders, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. I know that Davy Russell asked about how local community areas and planning groups could support the work. That collaboration, which Steven Short talked about, is very important.

I know that you had dialogue with Steven Short about training young people and those of us who are slightly more advanced. I remember getting CPR training in the brownies and in the guides—and, more recently, at a walking football event in Glasgow. He commented that, as long as you know the basics, being prompted by the call handler as to what you should be doing will give you confidence.

All the stakeholders need to be involved, including the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. As I said, in my community, on Islay, other people have been pulled in. Through our connection with Save a Life for Scotland, the Scottish Government is very much looking at the proposals that it has sent us.