Chamber and committees

It is not necessarily sportscotland’s responsibility to do such a wide sweep of the physical activity out there. Yesterday, I was at the convention of the south of Scotland, and we focused on transport and getting folk on their bikes to the bus or on their bikes to a train, but there did not seem to be a lot of people asking whether they can hang their bike on the train or the bus somewhere. It is about agencies collaborating and working together, so that is not sportscotland’s responsibility.

That is what Maureen Campbell seems to be saying about local authorities working together in collaboration, getting out of silos and so on. We have had lung health choirs singing in the Parliament. That is a physical activity but it is not within sportscotland’s remit. The people who perform in the lung health choirs say that they are so much more physically able because of how singing helps their lung health when they have conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I am interested in your thoughts on that.

My point is that it is a wider issue that is not just your responsibility. It is about everybody collaborating and working together to improve physical activity for folk in Scotland.

Okay. I have a final wee question. The six nations rugby is on now, and it is pretty exciting to watch. I am meeting Scottish Rugby on Thursday, with a specific focus on girls in rugby. You can be any body shape and have a position on the rugby field, which is absolutely fab. Does sportscotland collaborate with Scottish Rugby on promotion and engagement so that more young women can play rugby?

I would be interested in getting further information on what common staffing methods are. I know that, in intensive care units, one-to-one care is often provided—that is, one nurse to one patient—whereas, in a recovery room, it is two-to-one care. In the operating room department, no one can cut skin until a certain number of people from the department are present. Staffing levels are based on, for example, the type of anaesthetic and surgery, and whether the patient is awake. That is based on my experience in the perioperative environment, but we also have new roles with physician associates, anaesthesia associates and surgical assistants.

I would be interested in fleshing out the detail on what the instrument means, rather than looking at reducing work hours. I do not think the cabinet secretary has betrayed anybody—that aspect is in process; it is an on-going discussion.

I know that sportscotland has invested £424,000 for Dumfries and Galloway Council to offer an active schools programme, community sports hubs, community cycling and coaching. We have five of the 7stanes cycle routes in Dumfries and Galloway. Cycling is another sport that can be accessed, and sportscotland has supported those facilities.

I am also interested in the research that is under way to understand the transport and travel barriers that people in island communities and remote places face, and Maureen Campbell mentioned support for that. Can you tell us when the research will be completed, and when will it be published?

I will take an intervention.

The ability to make pre-application community engagement mandatory is reserved to the UK Government under the consenting regime in the UK Electricity Act 1989, which limits our ability to reform energy policy. Will the minister advise me what engagement the Scottish Government has had with the new UK Government on reforms to ensure that planning processes can be taken forward swiftly while giving local communities a voice?

I welcome the work of the people’s panel and its excellent report. Ahead of the debate, I received a briefing from Professor O’Gorman and Gillian McElroy at the University of the West of Scotland—and I should, at this point, thank everyone for their briefings.

I and other members of the joint committee are grateful to the members of the people’s panel for their diligence in taking the time to put together a thoughtful and direct series of recommendations on drug misuse and what we as a society could do better to help save and change lives. I cannot do the full report justice in the few minutes that I have, but I want to highlight a few of the issues that the people’s panel addressed and a few of the effects of drug misuse that we are seeing in our communities right now.

First, I want to pick up on what Elena Whitham said about the interesting effects of some of the new drugs that we are seeing. Just last week, NHS Dumfries and Galloway issued an alert in which it warned of sudden onset overdoses as a result of the almost instantaneous effects of heroin contaminated with synthetic opioids. Street heroin is now being cut with nitazenes, a more potent and powerful form of synthetic opioid that is around 600 times stronger than street heroin. The consequences are tragically predictable. Overdoses are massively more likely; the effect of naloxone is sharply reduced, which means that multiple doses of it are needed to counteract the effects of an overdose; and the additional doses take more time to administer in a situation in which seconds are vital.

Last October, my office team was trained in the use of naloxone nasally or in injectable form by Ruth McCall, a specialist addictions nurse who works for NHS Dumfries and Galloway. We were happy to receive that training.

Many folk still see drug misuse as being purely about heroin addiction, but the huge growth of synthetic opioids, which I have mentioned, and the speed at which the use of illicit benzodiazepines has spread show that that is not the case. As others have mentioned, there is the issue of polydrug use, but polymethod drug use is a factor, too. The people’s panel highlighted the rapid changes in drug supply, along with the need to ensure that people with direct or indirect lived experience of drug misuse are at the heart of decision making on policy and practicalities.

Another thing that comes through consistently in the panel’s recommendations is the importance of tackling stigma. I mentioned that issue in my intervention on Collette Stevenson, which I thank her for accepting. We have spoken here about stigma on numerous occasions. If we agree that drug misuse is a public health issue, as I hope we all do, it must be treated as exactly that. People should not be put off going into treatment, or even taking a first step towards treatment, because they fear judgment, stigmatisation or discrimination when they first pick up the phone or arrive for an appointment.

Judgment sometimes occurs when users encounter other health services outside of those for drugs and alcohol. I have repeatedly raised that issue here and have had meetings with ministers on it. I was recently pleased to find out about a brand-new e-learning programme on the NHS Turas platform that has been created and developed in collaboration with people from the Scottish recovery consortium who have lived experience. The programme, which is free to any healthcare professional, covers stigma, among other subjects. It is so important to involve and include people with lived experience as we proceed.

My apologies. I say to the member that I would have let her in—no problem.

Finally, destigmatisation is an absolutely key measure in helping people on the first steps towards treatment. Once again, I welcome the report and all the work of the committee members, clerks and panel participants.

Will the member take an intervention?

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support increased levels of sport and physical activity in Dumfries and Galloway. (S6O-04398)