Chamber and committees

Eskdalemuir is home to the Samye Ling Buddhist monastery and many agricultural holdings with livestock. There are concerns in the community about the Clerkhill and Over Cassock ranges, in the vicinity of which high-velocity 50-calibre weapons are used. Given that both ranges are operating sporadically under the 28-day planning rule, could the cabinet secretary undertake to properly look into the situation? In principle, would he consider removing shooting activities from the 28-day planning rule?

Does Gillian Mackay agree that the Scottish graduate entry medicine programme is a unique way that the Scottish Government is taking forward GP recruitment and training?

All the matters that we have discussed this morning involve financial input, and I am aware that the Scottish Government has committed to increasing funding. There was £5 million at the end of the previous financial year, and an allocation of an additional £50 million of funding each year, which will total £250 million over this session of Parliament. That will support further investment in a range of community-based interventions, including primary prevention and the expansion of residential rehabilitation, which you have covered a wee bit. Will you provide a breakdown of how that funding is allocated? Will we have reporting from the alcohol and drug partnerships that spend the money, and will we get an idea of how that spending will be assessed and evaluated?

Recovery must continue after someone’s stay in residential rehab. That is also part of the funding. Assertive outreach is another part. There are lots of strands that support people through the process. The third sector and charities are important to any funding model that we consider.

I will pick up on what the convener was saying about naloxone. Front-line workers are carrying out testing for the naloxone pilot, and ambulance crews, front-line police officers and even families are being trained to use naloxone. How is that being received? Has being engaged in the naloxone testing been positive for front-line workers?

I have a quick question. The issue of drug-related deaths is complex and work is being done in many strands. In previous questions in the chamber, I was interested in the tackling of stigma. We know that the Scottish drugs task force, in collaboration with other partners, has a strategy for addressing stigmatisation among people, communities and families. Stigmatisation is an issue in rural areas as well.

How important is it to tackle stigma, so that the media uses correct images, or better ones, and so that healthcare professionals who do not work in direct services with alcohol and drug users—people such as myself, when I worked in the recovery room—have a better understanding around the use of stigmatising language?

Thank you for breaking down the finances.

Much has been made of the cost of residential rehab. The Castle Craig clinic, which is mentioned in a BBC article, costs £2,500 a week for one person. There is a variety of residential approaches. The number of residential beds in Scotland has increased to 418, which is up from 365 previously. That is good news. There is a breadth of residential rehabilitation and a variety of costs. The Scottish Government is looking at a tailored person-centred approach that fits each person. You have talked about families and about Phoenix Futures.

Will you report back to us, in the chamber or in committee, on your assessment of all those pathways for funding and how they are working?

Covid vaccination certificates will play an important role in reducing risk while maximising the ability to keep open certain settings and events where transmission is a high risk, so it is important that staff at the venues that are affected are properly supported to implement the scheme. Can the First Minister provide an update on the work that is being conducted to prepare detailed guidance on how to use the NHS Scotland Covid check verifier app?

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on recovering, remobilising and renewing health and social care in Scotland. I too, offer my sincere thanks to all our health and social care staff, who are working flat-out every day under intense pressure due to the pandemic.

I remind members that I am a nurse. I am about to join the flu and Covid vaccination programme locally next week.

During the past 18 months, NHS colleagues and health and social care staff have really stepped up in the face of Covid-19, but many of my colleagues and NHS contacts are feeling undervalued. There are many reasons for that, including the fatigue that everybody is feeling. All the work that was being done in healthcare prior to Covid and that is being done now in dealing with Covid is driven by evidence and science-informed research. Science, research, healthcare and medical experts, GPs and consultants in acute care must all be valued by us all—by politicians, the media and members of the public. I therefore ask the minister in his closing remarks to provide assurances that those professionals are valued and that their knowledge, expertise, input and scientific evidence will continue to be considered when tackling Covid and when future healthcare decisions are made.

The Scottish Government’s NHS recovery plan is backed up by more than £1 billion of investment over the next five years. It is imperative to ensure that people receive care, including some cancer screening and non-elective procedures, which were paused during the pandemic.

Alasdair Allan mentioned the £400 million investment in national treatment centres, which will contribute to the delivery of more than 40,000 additional elective surgeries and procedures each year. That includes the new fast-track diagnostic centres, one of which was opened in Dumfries and Galloway in June.

The plan also provides £8 million to support the mental health and wellbeing of our health and care workforce. Mental health support has already begun. That includes access to counselling, support for managing stress and support for optimal work practices.

On mental health, it is extremely welcome—and right—that there is a focus on ensuring that the wellbeing of young people is supported. Through my casework, I know how pressed child and adolescent mental health services are and how that can have a negative effect on young people. They have had a particularly challenging 20 months so far. They have had to adapt to home schooling and they have not been able to partake in their usual activities, which has had an impact on their wellbeing. Therefore, ensuring that at least 10 per cent of front-line health spending is dedicated to mental health and the recruitment of 320 child and adolescent mental health service workers is necessary. The charity Scottish Association for Mental Health welcomes those measures.

The NHS recovery plan commits £130 million to delivering on Scotland’s national cancer plan. Although it is great to hear about that and about the commitment to re-establish a national centre of excellence for remote and rural medicine, I want to touch on the modernising patient pathways programme, which is also being progressed as part of the recovery plan. The programme will look at cancer pathways, and I ask the health secretary to commit that that work will ensure that no patients in D and G—including in Wigtownshire—will need to travel to Edinburgh for treatment when Glasgow is closer.

There is much to welcome in the Government’s recovery plan, including an increase in funding for primary care, GPs and allied health professionals that is worth more than £12 million, along with improved training and systems to enable more efficient triage of patients. Most important, the plan sets out the foundation for establishing a national care service. Other members have touched on that, but I will not because of time constraints. I welcome the plan and look forward to its progressing.

Does Carol Mochan agree that the Government is the first Government in the four nations of the UK to have a mental health minister?