Chamber and committees

I am sure that the role will evolve, because different projects will be undertaken and problems will be solved. For instance, an approach that works in one session of Parliament might be different to what works in another session.

It was interesting to read that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body said:

“The process is complicated, but we are moving into a period in which it is becoming regarded as a casual thing to suggest and implement the establishment of another commissioner”.—[Official Report, Finance and Public Administration Committee, 10 January 2023; c 20.]

That is not the language that I would have used, because I think that ensuring patient safety and addressing and preventing harm are absolutely reasonable. I say that as a former nurse who worked in situations in which there were issues in operating theatres. I am interested in knowing what you would say about the evidence that was submitted to the Finance and Public Administration Committee about the establishment of a new parliamentary commissioner or new commissioners becoming “a casual thing” that takes insufficient account of the associated budgetary consequences for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. I ask that on behalf of the Finance and Public Administration Committee.

The report is interesting. I have a couple of questions. One is about the report’s recommendations regarding the fun side of sport. Not all women want to be elite athletes. If they do, we give them support to develop. There is a difference between being competitive and engaging with or participating in sport. What did you find out about competition versus participation for fun?

My other question is about the types of sport that are offered to young women and girls. Were you able to determine—by local authority, for instance—whether there was a wide variety in the sporting activity on offer? Jenni Snell mentioned that some facilities might only be in Edinburgh or Glasgow. For instance, the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena seems to be increasing in popularity, and a lot of schools have climbing walls and things like that. However, in Dumfries and Galloway, where I am from, which is rural, people have to go to Carlisle or Edinburgh to compete, or even just to have fun.

I am interested in whether you carried out an audit of the sports offer. There is such a variety of sports, such as track and field, cross country, team sports, individual sports and gymnastics. I have had an opportunity to experience kayaking, which I absolutely love, although it is a bit scary on the water. Did you conduct an audit of the offer for young women and girls?

The minister will know that I am interested in the remit of the patient safety commissioner as far as it covers advocating for people and groups of people. For 20 years now, people in the south-west corner of Scotland have had to get radiotherapy in Edinburgh instead of going to Glasgow, and that means unnecessary travel. I am interested to know whether that might be something that a patient safety commissioner could pick up on by advocating for and listening to people who are really upset after 20 years of asking, “Why am I driving past the Beatson and going to Edinburgh for my radiotherapy treatment?” Could a patient safety commissioner advocate for, listen to and support a specific group of people such as the one that I have just described?

In a previous evidence session, Matthew McClelland talked about direct links between safety, care and compassion, and thought that the patient safety commissioner could play a role in encouraging grown-up conversations about the risks and benefits of medical interventions and so on. At the same session, Dr Chris Williams from the Royal College of General Practitioners said that safety needs to be the focus of the commissioner, at least initially, so that we can target the safety issues rather than the issues that I have described.

Thank you.

Okay. We have six commissioners and an ombudsman. With the potential for future commissioners, does the Scottish Government need to look at how we can ensure that a more strategic approach is taken to resourcing and establishing additional commissioners? Is work being done now to look at that?

I also thank Jackie Baillie for bringing the debate to the chamber.

We have heard more and more from Covid-19 survivors that the impact of the virus lasts beyond the first few weeks of immediate symptoms.

As members have said, for some patients, Covid-19 has a long-term and far-reaching impact on their daily lives, impacting them physically, emotionally and cognitively. Post-Covid syndrome, which is now referred to as long Covid, presents a variety of symptoms. They range from physical symptoms such as pulmonary and cardiovascular symptoms as well as systemic issues such as extreme fatigue, to neuropsychological symptoms that impact cognition, speech, memory and emotion.

Members have described the condition already. As I am one of the final speakers in the debate, it is hard to come up with or reflect something different. However, I am interested in following up on the point that the varied symptoms demonstrate that long Covid is complex, and much is still not known about how Covid-19 will affect people over time.

Research is on-going and must be supported. Stuart McMillan mentioned research that is being undertaken. I have information on research from the Covid in Scotland study, which involved a large cohort of people. The study involved 33,281 cases of laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as 62,957 individuals who had never been infected. The study looked at a wide range of people who have had Covid and some who have not had it. The results are interesting, although I will not repeat all the information that I have in front of me.

It is crucial that we think about the real-life experiences of people living with long Covid and that we involve those people. We need to continue to use that experience to inform the Scottish Government’s approach to support, and we need to look at where support is most required.

I have read about the work that Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is doing with NHS Lothian, Pogo Digital Healthcare and patients with long Covid to develop a pathway for long Covid. The pathway aims to give patients access to the tailored talks digital platform and to get advice from Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland’s long Covid support service. The work involves engaging with people to hear about their symptoms. People self-assess their symptoms, which allows them to be directed to particular specialists—as we have heard, different specialists deal with different symptoms.

It is interesting to pick up on what the Office for National Statistics has said about the prevalence of long Covid. In social care, 85 per cent of the workforce are female; in education, 60 per cent of the workforce are female; and in healthcare, the figure is 76 per cent. Therefore, long Covid impacts women more in those areas. Obviously, the condition presents challenges for women’s participation in the labour market, particularly as employer responses to long Covid have perhaps not been particularly supportive of women in the workforce. In a Trades Union Congress study, 52 per cent of respondents in the female workforce said that they had experienced some type of discrimination or disadvantage due to long Covid.

I am interested in whether the minister is pursuing any specific long Covid pathways into treatment for women and whether any further analysis could be done to look at the gender impact.

I will stop there, although this is a wide-ranging subject and I could easily have gone on for longer.

Brian Whittle and I were on the Health and Sport Committee together in the previous parliamentary session. Data and data sharing were a big issue. Does he think that the work that Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is doing needs to be connected directly with, for instance, the data platforms for learning for GP practices or GPs?