Chamber and committees

This week, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde once again issued a warning not to attend A and E unless the situation is life threatening. The board has used that warning repeatedly since August. People have been advised to use NHS 24 instead, but we know that, from September to January, 24,000 calls went unanswered.

That leaves people in a precarious position and not knowing where to turn, often in very serious situations. I note the statement’s reannouncement of the opening of the Dundee contact centre. Can the cabinet secretary clarify how many additional staff are required to meet the demands on NHS 24 and how many have been recruited, in order to ensure that people are not put at risk when they are being told not to attend A and E, and ensure that their call is answered by NHS 24?

Thank you. Those were very helpful responses.

I picked up that we want to avoid any sense that interventions would appear paternalistic, or any sense that things are being done to people. From what the witnesses have said, it is very much about collaboration between the link worker and the patient.

I will go back to Roseann Logan on her point about the pathway into sport. Is any work being done to look at how people who have had an initial block of training to access sports are subsequently encouraged or supported to join a local club that is free? Very often, a lot of the barriers are about having the confidence to join a club that is free and get involved. I wonder whether there is a sense that link workers could train and support someone initially and then help them to access the free clubs that already exist in our communities. I am keen to understand how common that is.

There has been increased demand for the NHS 24 telephony service; people want contact via the phone. I have raised the issue before in this committee. That has led to pressure, so sometimes calls go unanswered, which none of us wants to happen. What more do we need to do to bolster and support the service? Dr Perry, do you think that it is a question of call handling and clinical staff capacity? What else needs to be done?

Yes. I was referring to the challenges over the winter, when calls have, perhaps, gone unanswered. I was asking how we can ensure that that does not happen and about solutions to deal with the pressures.

A lot of the answers and discussion have been peppered by mention of the barriers that exist to accessing the sorts of pathways and interventions that there are. I am interested in your views about the potential for the exacerbation of inequalities.

Roseann Logan talked about the need for support and for someone to be accompanied to certain activities and have that intervention. In its written evidence, the alliance spoke about some of the challenges in relation to passes for sports and leisure activities. For example, if someone has never had the support to learn to swim and is given a leisure pass that ends after six weeks, would that increase those barriers, because that person would feel like it did not help them? Related to that, is the financial barrier to being able to continue with some of those activities after that six-week period too high? I am sorry—I appreciate that that was a lot. I drew some of that from the alliance’s evidence, so does Roseann want to start?

I want to explore that further. Chris Mackie’s point about who can support and advise is interesting. I am keen on what we can do in libraries in Scotland. I raised that point previously with Citizens Advice Scotland, which talked about some of its services. I am not sure, however, that there is universal coverage by such services. There is an opportunity to do more on that. Do the witnesses have reflections on that? Do the people whom Adam Stachura deals with through Age Scotland, for example, interact with library services?

Good morning, panel. I want to follow the path that other colleagues have been going down on digital exclusion. We have heard evidence from patient groups—in particular, the Riverside patient participation group from Musselburgh, which noted that approximately 10 per cent of the population has no access to new forms of technology, or does not have the skills that are required to use them. Given that those patients are most likely to have the greatest health needs, what else can we do to protect their right to access primary health care? Would Chris Mackie like to go first?

I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement, and I agree that it is completely unacceptable that people who have learning disabilities and complex needs are still being forced to live far away from home or are stuck in hospital. Indeed, the situation has been described by people who have learning disabilities and their families as a human rights scandal.

Action has been too slow and the situation has worsened. I pay tribute to organisations such as Enable Scotland and the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities for the campaigning on these issues that they have undertaken for many years, and for recently launching the #MyOwnFrontDoor campaign, which has called for delivery on five key actions.

I note that the minister has announced that the recommendation to deliver a national register, national support panel and specialist peer network will be implemented, but the #MyOwnFrontDoor campaign has also called for the closure of assessment and treatment units, an end to the practice of sending Scottish citizens out of the country, and the immediate implementation of a community-first principle in the support of adults and children in Scotland who have a learning disability, ending the commissioning of multibed units. How does the minister intend to make the swift progress in those areas that the campaign has called for—that is, by next year, rather than the 2024 timescale that he set out?

Specifically on delayed discharge, we know that more than 120,000 bed days were occupied in 2020-21 for code 9 reasons. That works out at 34 per cent of all bed days. Many of those people died while they were in hospital, not in their own community. What direct and swift action will be taken to ensure that people who have learning disabilities can live in their community with those whom they love, where they have every right to be?

It did, convener. Given the remarks that I just made about the importance to us all of the Promise, and given the degree to which the profile of people who have care experience—and, indeed, the care system itself—have been at the forefront in the past few years, I was quite surprised. The group is definitely of its time. It will provide a strong forum in which we, as decision makers, can continue to scrutinise that journey through hearing the voices of care-experienced young people.

I would also like to thank you, convener, for reminding colleagues that STAF is in the Parliament this week. Our stall continues today, and we have an event this evening. I will abuse my position slightly to plug that event, in case colleagues are around at 5.30 this evening.

Thanks, convener.