Chamber and committees

The motion goes some way towards indicating the complex factors that need to be addressed if we are sincere in our commitment to tackling the problem. The Labour amendment reinforces how difficult it is to access services, and the subsequent pressures on healthcare that that causes. Although my amendment seeks to acknowledge the long-standing challenges that we face, it also shows our commitment to working with the Scottish Government on the issue.

Let us not forget that, long before Covid, the Scottish National Party was presiding over crises in mental health and drug deaths. The drug death rate has almost tripled since the SNP has been in charge. In 2020, 1,339 drug-related deaths were registered—the largest number since records began in 1996. The SNP’s recruitment drive for mental health workers has fallen short of what was expected. In 2019, the Royal College of Psychiatrists warned that psychiatric services in Scotland were facing “a workforce crisis”.

It is encouraging that person-centred care is being talked about again, but we should remember that the SNP’s mental health strategy mentioned person-centred care in 2017, and that its 2018 alcohol and drug treatment strategy stated:

“Services need to be person-centred, trauma-informed and better integrated”.

That ambition is extremely welcome, but it is not new to Parliament.

Under the SNP Government, people still cannot easily access the vital mental health or addiction treatment that they need, when they need it. That is why we have launched our consultation for a right to recovery bill, which would enshrine in law the right to necessary addiction treatment. As the minister indicated in her speech, some sort of movement towards that appears to be coalescing.

Scotland has the highest figures for drug deaths in Europe, and I thought that every member of the Parliament agreed that tackling that was a priority. Last week, however, Lorna Slater, a Government minister, said that taking drugs “is not inherently dangerous”. I found it extremely disappointing to hear that from a minister in a Government that claims that tackling the drug deaths crisis is a priority. Nicola Sturgeon has vowed to address her shameful record on drugs deaths, so she must condemn her minister’s irresponsible remarks.

A person-centred approach to mental health and substance misuse is essential, and we commend that approach. We cannot treat substance misuse in isolation; we must also treat the mental health issues that are so often its root cause. Despite previous announcements and big promises being made in the chamber, the reality on the ground is very different. We need to consider the things that are working and accept the things that are not. The reality of what people must endure when pleading for access to services should shame us all.

Last week, I visited the Lothians and Edinburgh abstinence programme, which follows a truly person-centred approach to recovery. The service was set up and is working within NHS Lothian and, because of its success, other health boards, including Forth Valley, Fife and the Borders, have been in touch to learn more. One of the different things about the service is that patients live off site and travel to the LEAP facility.

During my visit, I was told that nobody has ever been late to one of the sessions. That demonstrates people’s motivation to get better, and it establishes an environment of mutual trust. Many of the people who have been through the programme come back to support the next intake of patients. That peer support is critical to giving those who are new to the programme the belief that they too can recover from their addiction. Every member of staff, from the clinical lead to the chef, works with the patients and, importantly, with their families, to establish and create a unique person-centred approach to recovery.

Ultimately, our treatment of addiction and substance misuse needs to evolve and move quickly towards a preventative agenda. Although we welcome the inclusion in the motion that “a trauma-informed approach” is needed, I think that we all accept that more still needs to be done. My conversations with the WAVE Trust make it clear that the approach must be embedded across organisations, not taken by just a select few managers or senior leaders.

In January, the SNP announced £250 million of funding to tackle drug deaths. The Scottish Conservatives welcome that, but it distils down to only £50 million a year. After suffering years of successive cuts, it is simply not enough money to tackle the issues that people face. The Scottish Conservatives have launched a consultation for a right to recovery bill. The principle that underlies the proposed bill is ensuring that people who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can access the necessary addiction treatment that they require when they want it. To do that, the proposed bill would enshrine the right to necessary addiction treatment in Scots law. Experts whom I have met welcome that and are contributing to the consultation. The FAVOR Scotland chief executive officer, Annemarie Ward, said:

“Nicola Sturgeon keeps playing political football and kicking this Bill into the long grass ... If the First Minister wanted to bring this Bill in, she could start the process tomorrow ... This is a human rights issue which goes beyond politics.”

Drug deaths are our national shame. We lose far too many people each year. The system is broken and leaving people on the streets to die. It must be overhauled by enshrining in law rights such as our right to recovery as soon as possible.

I move amendment S6M-01761.2, to insert at end:

“; notes that people cannot easily get access to the vital mental health or addiction treatment that they need; recognises that Scotland went into this pandemic with a pre-existing mental health crisis, with people seeking mental health treatment being forced to wait far too long for help; believes that progress in the rehabilitation and treatment of addiction in Scotland has been too slow, and calls for a legal right to recovery to tackle Scotland’s ongoing drug deaths crisis.”

Statistics that were released today on courses of dental treatment show that, in 2020-21, almost 360,000 fewer treatments were carried out on children in comparison with the previous year, and that there was a decrease of more than 3 million in the treatments that were carried out on adults. That comes after warnings from dentists last week that the combination of high demand and the withdrawal of Scottish Government support will devastate the sector. Given the dire situation that is facing dentistry, what is the First Minister’s Government going to do to ensure that dentists are supported and that people can access the vital treatment that they need?

The issues that I am raising existed long before Brexit. There has been a sharp decline in the number of students in further education during the pandemic, and the number of 16-year-olds who are enrolled full time at college has fallen by nearly a quarter in the past decade. With businesses also struggling, how will the Scottish Government support those very businesses and their apprenticeship schemes to ensure that all our young people have the best opportunities as they leave school?

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the future workforce can have access to vocational skills training, in light of the current staff shortages in certain sectors. (S6O-00253)

Welcome, cabinet secretary. My question is about online advertising. You mentioned the reasons why you want to take that approach, but have you had any thoughts about what you might like to do that would be different from the approaches of the other UK nations?

As we heard from my local colleague Gordon MacDonald, the big noise programme in Wester Hailes is a fantastic initiative. I thank him for bringing this members’ business debate to the chamber.

Wester Hailes is a residential area in the south-west of Edinburgh, which is home to about 10,000 people. As a child, I lived in the adjacent neighbourhood—I still do—and when I was growing up I used many of the services that were available for sport, leisure and retail. That all sounds grand but what it means is that I played badminton at the local high school and loved going to Presto with my mum, so that I could go on the escalator.

Back then, there was a strong sense of community across Wester Hailes, as there is now. However, the reality is that the area is one of the most deprived parts of the city and it has many complex issues. So much money has been spent on that part of Edinburgh and nothing seems to have broken through.

Despite that, Wester Hailes is a melting pot of great initiatives, ideas and people who are key to initiating and driving through positive physical and social change. I am keen to welcome anything more that can be done that can be a catalyst for change.

I share the sentiments that Benny Higgins, chairman of Sistema Scotland, expressed when he said:

“We also know that many of Scotland’s communities face long-standing inequalities and challenges that make it extremely difficult for children to achieve their hopes, ambitions and dreams ... Our charity is committed to ensuring that more children and communities across Scotland are able to take part in Big Noise and I am delighted that Wester Hailes will be the home of the next Big Noise programme.”

I am delighted, too.

My colleague Douglas Lumsden will speak about his experiences with the big noise programme in Aberdeen and the big difference that the programme has made to Torry.

The programme will work in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council and with the primary and nursery schools at Clovenstone, Canal View and Sighthill. I am delighted that many schools will take part in the programme.

Independent evaluation of the big noise model by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health has consistently observed positive impacts on the big noise participants across the different centres. We heard much of that background from Mr MacDonald. The centre’s findings note that participants have increased their confidence, discipline, academic skills, happiness, sense of belonging and fulfilment. I hope that, like Mr MacDonald, they also have great clarinet skills and are not like me, as I have none of that genetic material.

It is for those reasons, as well as for the positive contributions and commitments from colleagues across the chamber, that I am delighted that a new big noise programme will begin in Wester Hailes in spring 2022. I cannot wait to watch the positive impact that it will have on so many young people in my local area.

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement and echo his gratitude for the continuing and exceptional contribution of all our health and social care workers.

The Scottish Conservatives have called, repeatedly and for weeks, for a detailed winter plan due to the growing crisis in our NHS. It appears that we are still waiting. In the past few days, we have seen statistics showing that accident and emergency waiting times are at the worst level since 2007, reports from the police that they are filling in for ambulance crews by transporting patients to hospital, a U-turn on the closure of our drop-in vaccination clinics, and a health board apologising for a 1-mile-long queue outside a vaccination clinic where older and vulnerable patients were having to stand outside in the terrible weather conditions—which we have here today, as well—some having travelled miles to get there. All that is before we have even reached peak winter.

I welcome the £300 million investment in the NHS that the cabinet secretary outlined and his comments about investing in our workforce and increasing capacity. Most of that will understandably take some time, but we continue to need urgent action now. I ask the cabinet secretary once again: what is being done to drive down A and E waiting times right now? Will he promise that we will not see a repeat of scenes from the weekend with long queues outside vaccination clinics as we move further into winter?

Right. The cabinet secretary has acknowledged those pressures. How many members of staff does he envisage will be required to sustain not only the Covid vaccination programme but the flu one?

I, too, place on record my thanks to all those in our health service who participated in delivering the vaccination programme. It has clearly saved lives and will continue to do so.

Today’s Audit Scotland report on the vaccination programme states that the programme

“has so far been reliant on temporary staff and volunteers.”

The report notes:

“Work is currently taking place to establish the size of the workforce needed.”

I notice that there is reference to that in the deployment plan. The cabinet secretary is—

In January, Professor Griffin from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh called for roads and pavements to be gritted properly, because icy conditions would lead to accidents that the NHS does not have capacity to deal with. Although that was in the context of reducing admissions to hospitals to prevent Covid infections, the same case can now be made in order to reduce emergency admissions, given the current pressures that we face.

Scotland’s NHS is in crisis; today the cabinet secretary extended the state of emergency in the NHS until March 2022. Can he guarantee that all council areas across Scotland will be provided with resources to ensure that roads and pavements are properly gritted this winter, in order to prevent further strain being placed on our NHS?