Chamber and committees

Welcome back, everyone. Our next continued petition, PE1865, which was lodged by Roseanna Clarkin and Lauren McDougall, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to suspend the use of all surgical mesh and fixation devices while a review of all surgical procedures that use polyester, polypropylene or titanium is carried out and guidelines for the surgical use of mesh are established

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 14 June 2023, when we agreed to write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health and the British Hernia Society. As with previous considerations of the petition, we are joined by Katy Clark MSP. In addition, Clare Adamson MSP joins us remotely.

We have received a submission from Katy Clark with further details of the freedom of information responses on the number of patients readmitted following complications with surgical mesh that were referred to during our previous consideration.

The response from the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health tells us that there is subspecialist coverage in complex hernia repair, including non-mesh repair, operating in NHS Lothian, NHS Fife and NHS Grampian, with a further subspecialist based at the NHS Golden Jubilee national hospital.

The minister also provided an update on the development and implementation of the scan for safety programme, and indicated that further options for improved data collection, such as a registry of hernia repair procedures, are also being looked at by Government officials and their national health service colleagues. Reference was also made to OK to Ask, which is a public awareness campaign that aims to support patients and healthcare professionals having positive conversations about care and treatment.

We have a response from the British Hernia Society stating that it cannot support the suspension of all surgical mesh and fixation devices, as that would run counter to the best scientific evidence guidelines that have been published by the European Hernia Society. The British Hernia Society recognises the need to improve patient outcomes and offers information on the work that is being done to develop the hernia registry, which it hopes to roll out nationally this year.

We have also received submissions from the petitioners, which respond to the British Hernia Society’s submission and highlight that the improved patient pathways that the minister referred to has not led to improvements in the everyday experience of mesh patients so far. They are also concerned that little progress is being made to bridge the skills gap between natural tissue repair and mesh repair, and have highlighted a number of surgeons around the world who are developing their own non-mesh hernia repair techniques.

One of the petitioners, Roseanna Clarkin, has also shared her experience of mesh-related complications and the barriers faced when requesting non-mesh repair.

Members will also be aware that, since our previous consideration of the petition, Parliament has passed the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill. That legislation will enable the establishment of a commissioner to advocate for systemic improvements in the safety of healthcare and to promote the importance of the views of patients and other members of the public in relation to the safety of health care.

I ask Katy Clark to put her submissions to the committee.

I thank Katy Clark MSP and Clare Adamson MSP for their statements. Members, do you have any comments or suggestions for action?

I thank Clare Adamson and Katy Clark for their attendance.

Thank you, Mr Ewing. I know that the taxi federations in Fife are engaged in discussions about regulations and licensing. They have taxi forums that deal with all that. Perhaps that is an example that taxi drivers in the other 31 local authorities can engage with. Are we happy with Mr Golden’s recommendation?

Do members agree to close the petition?

Members indicated agreement.

Our next continued petition is PE1961, which was also lodged by Edward Grice on behalf of the Scottish Private Hire Association. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to expand the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 to include private hire car and taxi drivers by creating a specific criminal offence for assaulting, threatening or abusing private hire car or taxi drivers while they are engaged in private hire car or taxi work, and considering such offences as aggravated when the offence is committed while the driver is enforcing a licensing or operational condition.

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 31 May 2023, when we agreed to write to the Scottish Government. We have received a response from the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, which notes that the provisions of the 2021 act complement a range of general criminal laws that protect everyone from abuse and violence, with the penalties for those offences being greater than the maximum penalties that are available under the 2021 act. The minister confirms that the Scottish Government is not considering legislation to extend the provision of the 2021 act to include private hire car drivers, taxi drivers or transport workers in general. Given the Scottish Government’s clear position, do members have any comments and suggestions?

Do members of the committee agree?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you, Mr Eagle. We last considered the petition at our meeting on 14 June 2023, when we agreed to write to the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport and to sportscotland. Sportscotland responded with further detail on the support that it is providing to the Scottish swimming facilities project that is being taken forward in three phases by Scottish Swimming, which lodged the petition.

The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport confirmed that the Scottish Government received Barnett consequentials of £1.939 million in resource funding and £3.877 million in capital funding following the UK Government’s announcement in spring 2023 of a swimming pool fund. As Barnett consequentials are not required to be allocated to the policy area that they have resulted from, and as the minister has not offered any indication of where the money was allocated, it remains unclear whether that additional funding was, in fact, used to support swimming facilities in Scotland.

We have received a submission from the petitioner that includes a link to a report on the future of swimming facilities in Scotland and notes the number of pools that have closed since the petition was lodged and the impact of that on local communities.

Our colleague Liz Smith is unable to join us in person today but has provided a written statement in support of the petition, and Mr Eagle has already given his statement. Do members have any comments or recommendations?

Thank you, Mr Ewing. Are there further comments from members?

We will write to the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport to ask what additional funding is being given and to see whether the Barnett consequentials have been passed over for swimming pools. Do members agree?

Members indicated agreement.