Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government how the strategic transport projects review 2 will improve rail infrastructure, journey times and rail connectivity across the South Scotland region. (S6O-01792)

STPR2 makes a commitment to improve journey times, specifically on the Glasgow-Carlisle line. Can the minister comment further on how that commitment will be taken forward and on timescales for the changes being made? Improving that service from the current two-hour journey from Dumfries to Glasgow will allow more people to rely on public transport across the region and will attract people to Dumfries and Galloway, because the stations in the region could be key commuter lines to Glasgow.

Will Colin Smyth take an intervention?

As a former NHS employee in education and in the perioperative environment, I regularly hear from fantastic colleagues about what is happening on the ground. I am acutely aware of the challenges that our health and social care system faces, and I know the lengths to which staff are going to meet the unprecedented demands that they face.

I want to address the issues that Colin Smyth raised in relation to maternity services in Stranraer and dentistry. I know that he would have taken an intervention if there had been time. I raised the issue of maternity services directly with the cabinet secretary at Tuesday’s meeting of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. The cabinet secretary is aware that Maree Todd, the Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, is addressing maternity issues and supporting the work of the action group, which includes Colin Smyth. The cabinet secretary has given a commitment to get back to me on some of the issues that I raised in committee on Tuesday. I am sure that, when I get those responses, we will be able to work together to support what works best for our constituents in the south of Scotland.

Edward Mountain made a comment about the national treatment centre only doing the easy cases. In my experience of orthopaedic surgery, it is sometimes easier to do five total joints in one day, as those are planned, predictable and manageable cases, than it is to do one very long and difficult loss-of-blood surgery that would take up the whole orthopaedic session. I make that point off the top of my head, but I might pursue the issue further down the line.

This is the most challenging winter that the Scottish NHS has ever faced. Immediate pressure will continue in the coming weeks. Christine Grahame talked about the fact that Covid is still stalking the corridors. I make a plea to people to get their Covid vaccine, if it is due and they are avoiding it, and to get their flu vaccine as well, because, ultimately, that will help to keep folk oot o the acute care beds. I think that many members across the chamber would agree with me on that.

The Labour Party might not like to hear this, but our NHS in Scotland is consistently performing better than the NHS in any other part of the UK, and our staff are paid a bit more.

The Labour motion talks about properly funding our Scottish health and care service. The Scottish Government is ensuring that all actions are being taken to support services, and additional measures outlined just this month are already having an impact in Dumfries and Galloway. The measures will help the NHS and the social care sector with on-going extreme winter pressure. Health and social care partnerships have received a share of £8 million to procure around 300 additional care home beds to help alleviate pressure—

Just let me finish this one wee point, then I will.

The pressure that we are trying to alleviate with 300 additional care home beds is caused by delayed discharge. That funding will allow health and social care partnerships to pay more than the national care home rate for beds, which is £719.50. That is in addition to the 600 interim care beds already in operation in the country.

I will give way to Jackie Baillie before I come on to what is working in Dumfries and Galloway.

What is being passed on to the NHS in Scotland is more than the consequentials that are being given to us. It is oor taxpayers’ money that is being divvied up by folk that we didnae even vote for. It is probably good that Jackie Baillie made that intervention.

In Dumfries and Galloway, thanks in no small part to the work of the health and social care partnership’s chief operating officer, Julie White, that support has enabled the board to discharge from hospital 25 people who were medically fit for discharge but whose discharge had been delayed. That was achieved in one week, and I congratulate Julie White and the teams on that success. I understand that the approach taken by Dumfries and Galloway health and social care partnership is being shared with other boards. I look forward to the update from Julie and the teams at NHS Dumfries and Galloway and the health and social care partnership and to hearing how that was achieved. If some boards can make it work, let us share the good practice and get it done.

In addition, NHS 24 is taking forward plans to recruit around 200 new starts before the end of March. In the run-up to Christmas, more than 40 whole-time equivalent call operators, call handlers and clinical supervisors were recruited, allowing for more people to be directed to the most appropriate care setting for them.

On funding more generally, the Scottish Government has committed in the budget more than £18 billion for health and social care. That is around 52 per cent of the overall budget for the Scottish Government. Again, we dinnae have control over what comes our way. I want to pick up on Emma Roddick’s points about employment law. It is really hard to manage what we would like to do when we constantly have a ball and chain roon the neck of this place.

I would like Labour to be a bit more realistic.

The £600 million health and care winter plan is supporting the recruitment of 1,000 additional multidisciplinary staff and delivering £45 million for the Ambulance Service to support on-going recruitment and services.

I realise that I am out of time, Presiding Officer. I welcome the steps that the Scottish Government continues to take to help to support our fantastically valuable national health service in Scotland.

I am thinking about the need for an advocacy role because we have been looking at cancer pathways for more than 20 years. People from Stranraer, for example, go to Edinburgh for radiotherapy. That trip is 140 miles compared with 87.2 miles to go to Glasgow. That is an issue if we want to support people getting their care closer to home.

People in Dumfries and Galloway go to the South East Scotland Cancer Network, but nowhere in that region is in the south-east of Scotland. Are there opportunities to look at the cancer pathways to ensure that people in Stranraer go to Glasgow instead of travelling 140 miles to Edinburgh?

When Jeane Freeman was the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, she advocated for people being offered choice. People might want to go to Edinburgh for radiotherapy if they have family there and they can stay overnight.

There are on-going challenges in supporting patients and managing expectations. I understand that people must sometimes go to other centres because there is no ability to deliver radiotherapy locally—the new hospital in Dumfries does not offer that treatment, for example.

I would appreciate some follow-up information, so thank you for your offer.

Cabinet secretary, you will be aware that I have written to you on a few occasions about specific issues in remote and rural Dumfries and Galloway, such as those in Stranraer. I appreciate your responses, so thank you for those.

I am interested in the centre for excellence for remote and rural health and social care. Sir Lewis talked about education, innovation and collaboration. I am interested in whether the centre will have a role to advocate for people in remote and rural areas, because those folk cannae access the self-help groups and the people who are in urban areas. I know that people use Zoom and so on to engage, so is there a place in the centre for excellence for advocacy to be supported or delivered? I know that Australia has a National Rural Health Commissioner. I am interested in those aspects of the centre for excellence.