Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Displaying 2113 contributions
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Meeting of the Parliament
National Health Service Dentistry
Meeting date: 8 February 2023
Paul O'Kane
I am in my last minute, but I will take a very brief intervention.
Meeting of the Parliament
Portfolio Question Time
Meeting date: 8 February 2023
Paul O'Kane
Given the pressures that are faced by unpaid carers—one of the groups who have been most adversely affected by the pandemic—not least due to rising energy bills, as has been articulated in the chamber during First Minister’s question time, as well as their needs in the recovery phase, what does the Deputy First Minister intend to do to support them through the Covid recovery budget, not least in relation to testing, antivirals and personal protective equipment?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Paul O'Kane
Good morning to the panel, and thank you for your important testimony this morning. I want to expand on how the patient safety commissioner might understand emerging themes and patterns and so might be able to prevent some of the issues that we have discussed. To what extent do the witnesses think that their experiences are rooted in a failure to pick up on early signals of adverse outcomes? We have heard about some of that already, so I suppose that my follow-on is: what confidence do the witnesses have that the patient safety commissioner could improve the capacity to pick up on early signs of adverse outcomes?
I wonder whether Fraser Morton or Marie Lyon wants to comment on that.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Paul O'Kane
What has been said about the commissioner’s independence is helpful. I want to pick up on what Dr Lamont said.
Do you see the patient safety commissioner having a wider role in social care? Given the debates that we are having in Parliament around a national care service and the potential for the provision of care to change, do you think that the commissioner might be able to go beyond their present scope? How would we hold the commissioner and ministers accountable in that space?
Meeting of the Parliament
First Minister’s Question Time
Meeting date: 2 February 2023
Paul O'Kane
The cost of living crisis is being felt most acutely by people with caring responsibilities and those who are in receipt of care.
The Scottish Government commissioned the independent review of adult social care, which included a recommendation to scrap non-residential care charges, but we know that action has not been forthcoming to deliver on that recommendation. The removal of non-residential social care charges would, overnight, improve the lives of more than 100,000 people in Scotland by relieving the financial pressure on their households. Why has the First Minister failed to listen to experts such as Derek Feeley, and to scrap non-residential care charges?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Paul O'Kane
A number of respondents to the consultation on the Scottish bill felt that the patient safety commissioner should also cover social care. Indeed, social care is topical given the challenges in that sector. Also, as we have come out of Covid, there has been a renewed focus on safety in social care. Baroness Cumberlege, do you think that there is a case for including it in the patient safety commissioner’s remit?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill: Stage 1
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Paul O'Kane
I am grateful for that. I was keen to understand the challenges that might exist in including social care in the commissioner’s remit, so it was useful that you followed on from my question.
I appreciate that this is a known unknown, but is there any sense that, further down the line, there might be a distinct and separate commissioner for social care? Is it your sense that it would be better to try to separate out the two and have cross-cutting issues but not necessarily the same person doing it all?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Paul O'Kane
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported announcement that Unite the union has withdrawn from the co-design process of the national care service. (S6T-01149)
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Paul O'Kane
—which is chaired by a Scottish National Party colleague, voiced its concern on the cost of the bill. The minister needs to wake up and smell the coffee—
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Topical Question Time
Meeting date: 31 January 2023
Paul O'Kane
Will the minister recognise that his proposals have lost the confidence of key stakeholders and commit to pausing the bill?
