Chamber and committees

My question is for Paul Mitchell. I am lucky because, after this meeting, I am heading over to Bellshill to meet Darren McGhee, the managing director at DMG roofing. The company is opening up an academy of roofing, which is really interesting. It has an older workforce and is looking to invest in younger people. Darren actually won the Britain’s top tradesperson award, and I know that he has been doing excellent work to promote the value of apprenticeships, and of having the qualifications and skills as a tradesperson. He is also connected with SDS and careers advisers for more than 60 schools. He offers pupils work experience tasters, which can capture the interest of young people. That is the real McCoy, with a bag of nails and materials, to attract young people and bring them on.

What can the Scottish Government do to support stronger links with schools and education that inspire our young people to consider skilled trades and a career that will be full of opportunities?

I will.

I thank the panel for coming along today. I have a question for Professor Logan. I asked Shirley-Anne Somerville a question on the subject in Parliament, noting that Skills Development Scotland and the General Teaching Council for Scotland have noted the value of bringing computer experts into the classroom to upskill teachers and pupils together on issues such as cybersecurity. A number of partners are already working with schools to introduce industry skills, and Skills Development Scotland, which is quite heavily involved in supporting that work, has established a framework that brings agencies together to help them to tackle the challenge. Is this an area that the senior steering group will be, or should be, focusing on?

Yes. I thank Paul Mitchell and Leon Thompson for their answers.

A lot of women find that breastfeeding has a huge impact on their mental health. There is a need for support so that women can make informed choices about their individual circumstances. A skilled hands-on approach is important, with the right support from health professionals. What workforce training is needed to provide the practical support that women need with breastfeeding?

What impact are workforce issues having on patient care and on the ability of GPs, midwives, health visitors and others to work together effectively as a team? Last night, I spoke to some women who felt as though people all had bits of their jigsaw, but it was not necessarily coming together so that the whole picture could be seen. They found it difficult to get help as a result.

My question is for Joanne Smith. You spoke about the fact that you cover the third sector as well as statutory services. I am interested in the evidence that we got from women about the importance of the third sector’s role. They spoke about Home-Start and peer support. As Gillian Mackay picked up on, there is sometimes a worry about being too honest and up front with health professionals because of what the consequences of that could be. There are fears about the mum being taken away from their baby or the baby being taken away from their mum. The women felt that peer support gave a bit of trust on either side and allowed them to feel much more comfortable in being open.

I have experience in providing breastfeeding support as a volunteer peer supporter, and the midwife who led that work said that how mums speak to her in her midwife role is very different from how they speak to her when she does peer support.

Is the third sector picking up services that our NHS boards should be delivering? Where does the balance lie? In addition, what can our NHS boards learn from third sector organisations?

Earlier, Professor Knight mentioned the possibility of including babies being removed from mums in the category of baby loss events. Quite high numbers of care-experienced mums lose their babies at or very soon after birth, because they have not had those stable and protective relationships themselves.

The picture on the screen has disappeared; I do not know whether we are still on.

Thank you for those answers, and I will follow on from that. When I was speaking to women, I found that the third sector services that they got were excellent, and they were a massive help and support to them. The biggest issue that they seemed to have was that that support came a bit too late and a bit too far down the line. That seemed to be down to the information and guidance. The health professionals did not necessarily know about the local organisations that were best placed to help the women.

The women also made a point about some of the literature that they get, which has terminology that is outdated or a bit insensitive; it talks about “baby blues” and so on, which made them less likely to seek help, as they felt that that undermined how they were feeling.

How can third sector and NHS services be improved from that point of view, so that we get mums to the people who can offer the best support as quickly as possible? Maybe the national virtual hub is the way forward, as was said earlier.

What gaps exist in the information that is provided by NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government on perinatal mental health? I am not sure who wants to come in on that question.