Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener, and good morning to colleagues on the committee. I am very pleased to be here this morning to share with you the intentions of the cross-party group on care leavers.

The establishment of the group arose from a sense that there was no dedicated focus for care leavers in the Parliament. We have a number of cross-party groups that cater for children who are currently looked after, and other cross-party groups cross-cut around social work and other issues. However, there was a sense that young people who are leaving the care system and young people who have lived experience of being in the care system do not have a voice in the cross-party group system.

As is summarised in the papers that the committee has received, the purpose of the group is

“to inform MSPs of the many social, emotional wellbeing and financial challenges which care leavers face”

via the forum of the CPG, which will seek to share information and knowledge about the experiences of care leavers and those who support them. We will work in collaboration across the other cross-party groups that I have mentioned, and I think that we will have a particularly strong relationship with the cross-party group on social work.

We intend to have a wide membership, which will be drawn from young people with lived experience and adults who have gone through the care system. We will seek to express their views, opinions and ideas to the Government and Parliament and to share their vision for what Scotland can be.

A core part of what the group will do could arise from the work that we are all committed to on the Promise. There is a sense that the cross-party group would want to contribute to the progress of the Promise and the scrutiny of the Promise, ensuring that we, as decision makers, as well as wider civic society in Scotland, keep the promise that we made to care-experienced young people and those leaving care across Scotland.

A number of other related issues will be discussed in the group, but, in summary, it will be about putting care leaver issues on the map and ensuring that a group that is often underrepresented is represented in our Parliament.

I have been contacted by constituents who work in test and protect in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Following the First Minister’s announcements on Tuesday, the management told staff that they would be made redundant and would have only four weeks’ notice of that. That very evening, staff received a—frankly—tone-deaf letter that provided a web link for redundancy Scotland. I understand that that has not been the case in other boards, which have confirmed continuing employment until September and, indeed, redeployment in the national health service.

After almost two years of working to support people and protect all of us, and in the midst of the worst cost of living crisis in memory, surely those key workers deserve better than a web link and a thank you letter. Can the First Minster provide clarity on whether test and protect staff will be redeployed to other roles across the NHS in which they can continue the vital work that they have been doing so far?

During the pandemic, people who have learning disabilities and the organisations that support them raised concerns about the use of blanket “do not resuscitate” orders and confusion about the role of the power of attorney in supporting and protecting people who have a learning disability. What further support can be given to GPs and other organisations so that they can support people who have a learning disability, to ensure that their human rights are protected so that we never again see a situation such the one we saw around blanket DNR?

Will the minister provide assurance that there will be consultation with British Transport Police, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen and other trade unions about how we can get the solutions that we need?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle antisocial behaviour on Scotland’s railways. (S6O-00865)

I note the transport minister’s comments to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee today that legislation may be required to tackle antisocial behaviour. It is clear that we have to deal with the problem that is in front of us. In my West Scotland region, there has been a concerning and consistent trend of extreme violence, particularly between teenage girls, on the railway. It is clear that staff need better support and we must ensure that ticket officers are protected and staffing is increased to ensure safe railways.

It is also clear that—

I thank the panel for those responses.

I heard what Harjit Sandhu said about the GP traditionally being the gatekeeper. I think that people are trying to find other avenues. However, some of the written submissions that the committee has received, particularly from the health and social care partnerships, suggest that there is still nervousness about people on a self-referral pathway going from pillar to post and ending up in an emergency setting, because there is no relationship with the first point of contact—the GP.

Do we need to drill down into that to understand who needs to go via the GP as the first point of contact in order to access other services? After all, as some of the panel’s answers have suggested, self-referral might be easier for some people than others. Is there an acceptance that we need to look at individuals and their needs?

Good morning, panel. We have already touched on self-referral pathways, but I am interested in the public’s awareness of self-referral. We know that there are initiatives out there, such as pharmacy first, which we have talked about a bit, and the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde right care, right place web resource, which tells people where they should go and when. According to research that has been done for the inquiry, public awareness of some of those initiatives is not always high; in particular, public awareness of when to self-refer outwith pharmacies is not high. I think that a lot of people are aware of the pharmacy avenue, but perhaps not other avenues.

My first, broad question, therefore, is: how can we raise awareness of self-referral and people’s ability to self-refer? As I have mentioned pharmacies, I ask Clare Morrison to answer that question first.

Is your sense that it is working effectively when someone is signposted to an AHP or whoever and they go on that journey, or do people sometimes go round the houses, for want of a better expression, and end up back at the GP?

Last week, we heard some evidence about the requirement for protected learning time for everyone who is involved in a practice, which includes reception staff. Other people have talked about how we can protect that time properly. Dr Marshall, I do not know whether you have had experience of, for example, being part of NHS 24 or of covering phone lines in your practice, but I believe that that there might be ways of ensuring that people feel that they are getting a service from their practice while putting in place protected learning time for everyone who works in the practice. Can you say something about that?