Chamber and committees

Ben Macpherson has a brief supplementary question.

Carry on.

At that point, the then cabinet secretary did not quite say where the money was coming from, did she?

Minister, you made some bold statements about overall college funding, given the challenges that colleges faced last year as a result of the various budget statements and announcements that were made, including some of the £56 million in savings and the demand-led programme that was taken away, as well as the £26 million that was taken away to fund the pay settlement for teachers. Colleges were left with £72 million having been removed from their budgets. Who is to say that that will not happen again?

I will open up the last wee bit of the meeting to anyone who has any other questions. We have a bit of time on our hands.

To pick up on something that Ben Macpherson said, not setting out a full response to each of the Withers recommendations could make it harder to chart progress against his report. Will the Scottish Government map progress against its own outcomes?

Given some of the conversations during Ross Greer’s questioning, about employers and microcredentials, might it be—

It does not seem that long since I hosted the round-table session on the dying in the margins study by Marie Curie and the University of Glasgow. That was back in November, and there was a members’ business debate on that study in the chamber. A few weeks after that, I led a members’ business debate entitled “Charitable Hospice Care to Meet Future Need”.

I see many familiar faces in the chamber. I thank Bob Doris for bringing the subject of hospices back to the chamber at what is perhaps a more poignant time of the year, when it means more to most, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the subject again.

Marie Curie has done excellent work over the past 75 years, and it continues to provide vital services to those who need palliative and end-of-life care. It supports millions of people who are affected by terminal illness and those who are dealing with dying, death and—importantly—bereavement across the UK.

Marie Curie is the largest charitable funder of palliative care research in the UK and the largest third sector provider of palliative and end-of-life services for adults in Scotland. As Bob Doris has said, there are two Marie Curie hospices in Scotland—in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 2022-23, Marie Curie supported more than 8,100 people in Scotland; in the same year, around 8,815 people died in the Lothian region, 90 per cent of whom had a palliative care need. Hospices are critical in meeting that need. Indeed, across the region, Marie Curie hospice care-at-home teams made 4,060 visits to 672 terminally ill people.

In November, I visited the Marie Curie hospice in Fairmilehead. When I entered it, I was immediately enveloped by a calmness and serenity that gave me a sense of wellbeing and care. I was given a tour of the facilities and had the chance to speak to members of staff. Early Marie Curie homes were housed in converted buildings that were not ideal for the type of care that they delivered; the hospice at Fairmilehead, which was opened in 1966, was the second purpose-built building that was designed and built by Marie Curie in the UK. It was designed to care for those who were seriously ill with advanced conditions. In the past year, the Marie Curie hospice service in Edinburgh and West Lothian has supported a total of 1,690 patients with in-patient, out-patient and, importantly, community and day therapy services.

I think that many people have preconceived ideas about hospice care. Most of Marie Curie’s work is done in the community, with the majority of hospice care being delivered beyond hospice buildings and walls and out in people’s homes. That gives people the option to die with their friends and family, at home and supported by teams of experts. Marie Curie has a fast-track team that helps people with tasks such as washing, caring and showering as they get close to the end of life. Crucially, it keeps them out of a hospital setting; the team is essential to keeping people in the right place and offers family support to relatives.

It was disappointing that this week’s budget made no mention of the support needed by hospices to address the £16 million deficit that the sector faces. The rapidly growing need for palliative care in Scotland means that the vital contribution made by hospices will become increasingly important, and I hope that the issue will be considered in future.

In closing, I echo what Bob Doris said about Marie Curie’s inspirational work across the country, about how supportive it is to families and those at the end of life and about how innovative it continues to be. I thank Marie Curie for 75 years of care and wish the charity well in the future.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Throughout the cabinet secretary’s answers to questions on the statement, she referred to the fact that there were no amendments lodged at stage 3 that would not have resulted in divergence from United Kingdom legislation. There were such amendments, and they were in my name.

I thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement—this one was sent timeously.

Last week, data released by the Scottish Government revealed that drug deaths have risen for the first nine months of 2023 by 13 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. It is unacceptable that an additional 103 lives have been tragically lost to drugs.

The Scottish Government is focused primarily on harm reduction and the destigmatisation of drugs. The 10 MAT standards are its vehicle to achieve that, but they are one that it is failing to deliver, having pushed back their full implementation until April 2025.

The minister mentioned in her statement progress with MAT standards 7, 8 and 9, but perhaps the most important MAT standard is standard 1: same-day access to treatment. The standard is to enable people to access treatment or support on the day that they present to any part of the service. However, national drug and alcohol treatment waiting times that have been published today show that five out of 13 health boards did not meet the standard that 90 per cent of people who are referred for help will wait no longer than three weeks for specialist treatment. If health boards and alcohol and drug partnerships cannot provide treatment within three weeks to 90 per cent of the people, how many are capable of achieving same-day access to treatment—in other words, MAT standard 1?

The minister stated that she is

“absolutely steadfast and determined to turn the tide on drug deaths.”

If that is true, every avenue must be explored. Will the minister finally get behind the proposed right to recovery bill?