Chamber and committees

I welcome the decision to put human rights into the terms of reference. I appreciate that the inquiry is independent but, given the public interest in any outcomes of the inquiry, how will the Scottish Government ensure that the conclusions of the inquiry, including any interim conclusions if appropriate, are in accessible formats in order to provide all families who have lost a loved one with the answers that they deserve?

This will, once again, be one of the most difficult winters in the history of our NHS. We have a workforce that is already tired, rising Covid-related admissions and a backlog of delayed and more complex treatment. We also face a battle to reduce A and E waiting times.

As always, some health boards are doing better than others. In my region, NHS Forth Valley is continually at the top of the table for long waiting times. We must understand better why that is the case. We also need to support a sustained incremental improvement in waiting times rather than what we are seeing at the moment: bad statistics one week, a marked improvement the following week, and then the cycle repeating itself. That does not deliver for patients, and I am greatly concerned about the pressure that clinical teams are being put under to achieve lower waiting times when they are already stretched and tired.

Keeping people out of acute settings in the first place should always be the primary goal. At the start of this week, I attended a Marie Curie round-table discussion, in which I heard about the experiences of unpaid carers and the organisations that support them. We discussed the current issues that face those who care for loved ones at home.

An issue that was raised was access to NHS 24 for people with a terminal diagnosis. Carers and patients often look for guidance on whether the issue that they currently have needs acute care. However, because of the wait to be triaged, they often end up phoning for an ambulance or taking their loved one to A and E.

I believe that some health boards, as part of anticipatory care planning, provide specific pathways for those with a terminal diagnosis to get the information that they need. Given the number of people who want to die at home, I hope that the cabinet secretary will look into that issue as one way to prevent people from ending up at A and E unnecessarily.

I have previously raised the issue of the staffing of out-of-hours GP services. That hugely valuable service diverts people away from A and E and provides timely care. We must make that service an attractive option for GPs to work in.

In its briefing, the Royal College of General Practitioners highlighted its belief that people are unaware of how to effectively navigate health and social care services. Many things have changed over the pandemic. Some services are not delivered in the same way, and pathways might have changed. I hope that, especially over winter, effort can be put into ensuring that patients know where and when they can access the most appropriate care. For example, the pharmacy first model will be able to help with minor ailments over the winter, which will potentially reduce the impact on GPs.

We should acknowledge those in different parts of community care who are working extremely hard to ensure that their patients remain well. District nurses are doing home visits, changing bandages and monitoring people’s conditions; school nurses are dealing with a vast range of issues across multiple schools; and health visitors are providing advice and guidance for new parents. They are all contributing to the system, as are the brilliant allied health professionals and support staff, without whom the NHS simply would not work.

We need to ensure that staff can take their breaks, that they have time for peer support, and that they can access wellbeing measures that help to relieve the physical and mental toll that they experience.

Pay is a very important issue. However, having spoken to nurses from the RCN outside the Parliament building before the recess, I know that their working conditions and their terms and conditions are really important issues, too. I will continue to work with RCN members on that.

This winter, we must reduce waiting times as far as possible without putting more undue pressure on a tired workforce, and we must ensure that all avenues for access to care are well advertised and communicated.

Will the minister outline what will be put in place as a result of the strategy for those people who have made multiple attempts to take their lives, many of whom have complex trauma? How can we ensure that each of those crisis periods is taken seriously and treated without stigma?

Good morning to the panel. What factors need to be considered in addressing demographic changes? We have not only an ageing population but a large population living to very old age. As we heard from Dr Connon, there is the potential for people to be unpaid carers for multiple generations or for people to be carers into old age. We also have a declining birth rate. I will go to Professor Hennessy on that.

I support David Torrance’s position on writing to the health boards. The petitioners would probably like to see some action being taken in the period between now and Christmas. I think that having the health boards gather that information through correspondence and then having the cabinet secretary in after Christmas would make the most of the time that we have, as it would mean gathering information while we are doing other things as well as having an in-person session to make sure that we cover the issues.

What actions should the Government take to address the urgent challenges presented by the workforce demographics, with the workforce comprising predominantly older women who have caring responsibilities of their own?

In the interest of time, I will combine my questions and ask anyone who contributes an answer to that question to also cover what they believe needs to be done to ensure that those who do caring as a career are given parity with NHS colleagues.

David Torrance said it first, to be fair to him.

Do I have time for one more question, convener?

Given how important it is to communicate a lot of the work that is going on at national level to the clubs and the regional associations, what time frame do you expect that you need to formalise a new way of communicating with the regions and the clubs?

Has Cricket Scotland established a formalised method of communication for sharing updates and examples of good practice among regional associations, clubs and itself?