Chamber and committees

The minister mentioned the community living change fund. Can he expand on the steps that will be taken to ensure that best practice is adhered to in the design of community-based support for people with complex needs, so that we can end the postcode lottery for access to high-quality services in rural areas such as Dumfries and Galloway and more widely across Scotland?

I thank the minister for taking questions on what is, as she has said, a very fast-moving situation. Cairnryan is, indeed, a busy port, not just providing connectivity to Northern Ireland but also now serving as Scotland’s gateway to the European Union and Ireland. The route providers, P&O and Stena Line, carry a lot of freight, especially for supermarkets, but also provide the carriage of livestock. Will the minister therefore outline what the Government is doing to address and minimise the disruption?

I congratulate my colleague Evelyn Tweed on securing the debate and I welcome the opportunity to speak.

The pandemic has been awful for us all and it has hit the tourism industry very hard. I thank the Scottish Government for the financial support that has been provided so far. In addition to Scottish tourism month’s aims to “engage, connect and inspire”, it is really important for our tourism industry to aim for recovery, rebirth and renewal.

As a representative of Scotland’s bonniest regions, the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland, I am proud to shine a light on the sooth. The beautiful scenery and the world-class food and drink are fantastic, and the outdoor pursuits and our enormous contribution to Scotland’s national environment are really important.

The Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway have something for everyone, including forest and family holidays, historic abbeys and castles, distilleries, cycle trails, water sports and spa retreats, as my colleague Christine Grahame also mentioned. With miles of stunning coastline, rolling hills and beautiful forest, there is no better place to escape to, and history lovers can follow in the footsteps of Robert the Bruce, Walter Scott and our national bard Robert Burns.

People can also explore the many wonderful ruined abbeys that are dotted all across South Scotland, from Sweetheart abbey to the world-famous Melrose abbey. The south of Scotland also boasts some great gardens, such as Logan botanic garden. Located on the south-western tip of Scotland, it is warmed by the gulf stream and is a place of tropical beauty, with many plants that normally grow in antipodean countries.

We noo have world-class whisky, gin and rum distilleries as well, including Annandale, Bladnoch, Crafty, Ninefold, Oro, Borders, Selkirk, Dark Art and the Moffat distillery, which is still under construction.

As part of the Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations, Dumfries has applied to be recognised as a city. When Perth, Stirling and Inverness received city status, they went from strength to strength—economically, socially and culturally—and attracted people and lots of new investment to their areas. If Dumfries receives city status, the town and our whole region could benefit similarly. The south really is Scotland’s adventure playground.

I am interested in social prescribing, which is also known as community prescribing. In the previous session of Parliament, both David Torrance and I were members of the Health and Sport Committee, which did an inquiry into social prescribing and talked about it as an investment rather than a cost. I am interested to hear whether you think that there is scope for wider use of social prescribing?

I have a quick supplementary question about digital exclusion and pop-up health checks. I am aware that the local NFU Scotland branch in Dumfries and Galloway went to an auction mart and did blood pressure, vital signs and blood glucose checks. Should we consider pursuing pop-up health checks at auction marts or in empty shops in town centres?

Good morning. I would like to pick up on what Julie Mosgrove said about remote and rural areas. There are places in our small towns and large villages where people can access optometry services, but there are additional challenges in remote and rural areas. Could you outline some of those challenges in relation to people’s ability to access alternative pathways?

The receptionist is primarily the person who takes the phone calls and triages cases. I have heard that some GPs in my area answer the phones and triage calls, identifying themselves as Dr X or whoever, and that their experience has been different and not as traumatic. Could we measure that approach? I am not suggesting that we require GPs to triage, but is it worth considering different experiences? Is there a perception that a receptionist who answers the phone does not have a clue about how to triage, when in fact they are pretty much specialists at that? Should we look at how attitudes differ, depending who answers the phone?

Are the link workers who are signposting people using the ALISS system, which is the national Government-funded local information system for Scotland? I am aware that there might be issues around keeping that system up to date. That is my first question—are the link workers either directing people through ALISS or using it themselves?

Secondly, Dumfries and Galloway basically dingied ALISS and set up its own DG Locator service, which is updated at regional rather than national level. Do you have any thoughts about how we should direct people? Is it the link worker’s job to link into the ALISS system or other systems?

I have another wee question. Previously, we have talked about additional skills to deliver additional services. For example, in one of our members’ business debates, we spoke about the fact that optometrists are often the first people to detect type 2 diabetes, and that would lead to a referral for a blood glucose check. Could that check be delivered in an optometry setting? It would require people to receive additional training to ensure they had the right level of competency and skill.

There we go.

I will pick up on what Jess Sussmann just said and relate it back to her comment about support for art. I had a case of someone who wanted to use self-directed support money for art therapy to help them tackle social isolation. Their proposal was refused, because it related to art and was therefore not seen as important.

Jess, how do you feel about that sort of support being used to benefit people and tackle social isolation in that way? I know that art therapy is really good for that. I see that you are shaking your head. What are your thoughts on that?