The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
There are two types of keyword search:
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 430 contributions
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
That is a good question, because it is clear that a delay in diagnostics has the potential to have a real impact on an individual’s health outcomes. None of us wants to see any delay in diagnostics.
Dr Gregor Smith and I were involved in the press briefing yesterday, and the issue of diagnostics came up on the back of the FOI request and relevant articles. I will say a few things in response. First, the pandemic has had an obvious impact. That situation is not unique to Scotland; it is replicated not just across the UK but around the world. People have had to make exceptionally difficult decisions.
Dr Smith and I spoke about the difficult decisions that were made on elective care. I do not think that I would be overegging it to say that one of the most difficult decisions, if not the most difficult decision, that was taken during the pandemic was on the pausing of cancer screening. It was paused only for a brief period, but even a single day of pausing screening can have an impact, let alone pausing it for a period of months, as we had to do in the early days of the pandemic. Such a decision is never taken lightly, but those decisions were taken as a result of the pandemic, and they had an impact on our health service, which is why there is a backlog of that scale. I am not suggesting that there were no delays in diagnostic testing before the pandemic, but I think that an objective observation of the figures would show that the pandemic had a significant impact on the level of delay.
In the information that resulted from the FOI request, I noticed that a few people had, unfortunately, waited for far too long. I will go back to what the First Minister said yesterday: no one should be waiting for as long as five years, as happened in one case. That is an absolute anomaly. We need to understand why that happens in individual cases, because even if that happens in only one case, or in a few cases, it will have an impact on the individual who is involved. However, waiting for that length of time is not the norm.
What are we doing about that? I will double check the detail, but we have invested in, I think, six mobile MRI scanners and five mobile CT scanners. That is relevant to rural Scotland. The investments that we have made thus far have provided some additional capacity. We have also looked at the winter pressures that we have clearly faced and are facing, and I have put an additional £1.5 million towards diagnostic and radiology services. From memory, that will give us in the order of 15,000 additional scans between January and the end of March. I will double check that number, and if I am way off, I will come back and correct the record. We will keep investing to try to increase the capacity of diagnostic services where we can.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
Yes, although I have work to do relating to topical question time and the debate later today.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
We do not create new agencies, organisations and institutions lightly. That is partly because we do not want to clutter a landscape that you could argue already has a fair bit of bureaucracy around it, but also because there are financial resource implications to which we have to be alive and alert, which we all are, particularly given the current pressures.
I am invested in and committed to the centre for excellence, which we have already spoken about. That can help us with some of the challenges in remote and rural Scotland. I do not think that it would have an advocacy role. I do not intend to create an agency that advocates for patients, although we have committed to a variety of commissioners already in this parliamentary session. Carol Mochan will know the work that we are doing on patient safety and patient safety commissioners.
I know that it will be a disappointment to the petitioners but, at this stage, I am not looking to create a new agency that works on advocacy. However, the centre for excellence can play a critical role in helping us with remote and rural healthcare.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
Yes. It is given to me by some of the financial experts and analysts we have in the Scottish Government. They look at what the inflation level was when the budget was first set and what it was at the time we made that statement. Obviously, inflation fluctuates, but those figures were arrived at when inflation was at its peak. I am happy to provide more detail to Dr Gulhane if he wishes and to give him the full analysis and breakdown of that £650 million less that our budget is worth. I am confident in the figure.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
I can provide a written update to Emma Harper on that specific issue.
We are very alive and alert to the issue of midwives in remote and rural Scotland. Emma Harper will know about the distance learning course that we are now running, which came on the back of engagement and discussions with rural and remote health boards.
The course for nurses to qualify as midwives is running for a second year at Edinburgh Napier University. My understanding is that the short midwifery programme allows students to fully qualify as midwives in just 20 months, so it is a really good course.
The percentage of nurses from remote and rural health boards who were enrolled on the distance learning course was 47 per cent, so almost half of the entire intake was from remote and rural health boards. That figure has now increased to almost two thirds—65 per cent of the students on the shortened midwifery course come from remote and rural health boards. Distance learning is an advantage for them because they can remain within their board.
We are doing a lot—that is just one example in relation to the nursing midwifery side of things. On Emma Harper’s specific point, I will send a written update to the convener.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
That is a great question, and it is why so much of our focus has been on growing multidisciplinary team staffing in general practice and beyond, in primary care and other parts of the health service. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that people get treatment at home, if possible, or as close to home as possible. I would argue that that is just as important, if not more important, in remote and rural settings, given the challenges to access to secondary care. The focus on primary and community care is exceptionally important in that regard. A lot of our focus has therefore been on growing multidisciplinary teams, and the number of people in those teams has grown to more than 3,220 in the past number of years.
On the preventative side, we can focus on investment in allied health professionals. Clearly, if someone gets access to an allied health professional before their condition becomes a lot worse, there might be a lot of benefit in that from a preventative perspective. I have always been incredibly impressed by how much our advanced nurse practitioners can do, so embedding them in community facilities, particularly in primary care, can really help us.
I just want to make a final point, which Gillian Mackay made in her question. In the health service, we often have to deal with the immediate, so let us deal with the immediate winter pressures that are in front of us. However, I am keen that we, as a Government, never lose sight of the importance of the preventative agenda. I focus on that regularly, as I am sure members can imagine. Although we have had to deal with and prioritise the difficult challenges of the pandemic, we do not want to lose any focus on the excellent preventative work that we are doing on obesity, mental health, smoking cessation, alcohol and drugs, healthy living and so on. Maree Todd, as the minister with responsibility for public health, is leading on that, and—as members may imagine—she is driving that work forward at pace.
11:15Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
Sir Lewis Ritchie wants to comment on that, so I will let him come in next.
It is fair to say that, in my session with the committee last week, there was rightly quite an intense focus on capital infrastructure. I can point to investments that we have made. Dr Gregor Smith mentioned a couple of new hospitals that we built and opened last year—I was very pleased to be a part of that. There is absolutely a role for what we might colloquially call shiny new buildings that are built to the best standards to accommodate the equipment and the technology, and meet best access standards, net zero ambitions and so on. Communities will always welcome such buildings. However, there is also a significant need for refurbishment of our NHS estate.
I think that, last week, Tess White referred to the significant refurbishment backlog. The Government is committed to significant investment in that refurbishment, and that investment has to be not only at our large acute sites—although many of them need refurbishment—but at some of the local community facilities.
10:45Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
I will answer the two questions and, again, I will be happy for my colleagues to come in. The pandemic necessitated not just the use but, frankly, the explosion in the use of digital technology, and we want to retain that where possible. Members often speak to me about some of the challenges that their constituents articulate to them about access to local GP services. I have always maintained that GP access should continue to be a hybrid model. Where people need to be seen face to face, that should absolutely happen. However, it is no bad thing to embed the use of technology such as video and telephone consultations.
The member knows about the growth in the Near Me system, and he will know that we have a digital healthcare strategy, which I am sure he has seen. I have often referenced the strategy in committee appearances, and I commend it to everybody. It talks about some of the forward thinking that we are doing on the use of digital tech. A recent example—it is small scale, but it is important—is the launch of the NHS 24 app during this winter. It is a minimum viable product, but it will grow and evolve as time goes on, and it could be another tool in the toolbox to try to ensure that people get the right care in the right place at the right time.
I could go on for ages about the importance of digital tech, which clearly can make a big difference in remote and rural healthcare. I could give numerous examples of how we are deploying digital technology in remote and rural health settings. A number of campaign groups that I have spoken to have told me that that is significant and important to them. Clearly, however, the expectation is that anybody who needs to be seen face to face will be seen face to face. If that is not happening, I would be concerned.
On reliance on technology, we are cognisant of digital exclusion, and we clearly reference that in our strategy. We have to ensure that alternatives are available for those who are unable to connect digitally. The Government’s number 1 priority is to ensure that everybody right across the country has appropriate connectivity. While that investment is being made, it is about making sure that we have alternatives to digital available.
I think that both my colleagues want to come in, with the convener’s permission.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
I certainly hope so. When I have spoken to the NMC and the GDC in my time as health secretary, they have been excited—as excited as regulators tend to get—about the fact that the additional flexibility could really assist with international recruitment. I will not go into the challenges that Brexit has brought in relation to health and social care because those have been well rehearsed, but flexibility can absolutely help with that.
As per the previous evidence session, there is no doubt that health boards want to take maximum advantage and make maximum use of international recruitment. It is not a panacea—I am always keen to say that—but it can provide significant additionality. There is no doubt that the additional flexibilities that I outlined in my opening remarks could help with regard to the dental and the nursing and midwifery workforces.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Humza Yousaf
First and foremost, there is no doubt that housing is an important issue. I hear from many people who have tried to take up rural, remote or island posts that lack of housing is, ultimately, the reason why they cannot do so. In some cases, education might be the reason, but housing tends to be the problem.
I understand that brevity is important, so I will be brief. There is a relentless cross-Government focus on the issue. I meet colleagues who have responsibility for affordable housing, and together—as the member probably knows—we are developing a remote, rural and island housing action plan in order to meet the housing needs of those communities. There is a real focus on retention and attracting people to those communities. It is fair to say that we welcome innovative local solutions that can be found. That is happening in parts of Scotland where accommodation is being repurposed. However, there needs to be a cross-Government approach, which is why the remote, rural and island housing action plan is important.