Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2020
Thank you very much, Presiding Officer.
On Jeane Freeman’s first point, yes, but that was not the case in three hospitals where NHS staff still have to pay to park. We can do something about that: we can refund staff their parking charges. That is now planned to take place in England and Wales, and some £7 million will come to the Scottish Parliament in Barnett consequentials because of parking charges that staff will not pay in England and Wales. Ministers can decide to stop making staff pay at hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow and at Ninewells hospital and to use that money, or they can decide to see the charging approach continue. I do not believe that our NHS staff in Edinburgh and Glasgow and Ninewells hospital should continue to pay those parking fees.
I repeat the call for the Government to bring forward a full debate on the Sturrock review without further delay. My Highlands and Islands colleague Edward Mountain has also rightly and repeatedly made that call.
On the Scottish Government’s failure to meet a raft of NHS targets and its appalling oversight of key NHS infrastructure projects, I associate myself with the content of Monica Lennon’s motion. In speaking to my constituents across Edinburgh and Lothian, I am always struck by the fact that they are increasingly losing confidence in the SNP’s ability to lead and manage our NHS. That should not be any surprise to ministers when they look at all the problems that are mounting up.
However, there are innovative new solutions that we could take forward if ministers looked to implement them and listened across the Parliament.
As a co-convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group on cancer—Anas Sarwar is the group’s other co-convener—I have highlighted in recent months our report, which pointed out that cancer survival rates are being impacted by the lack of workforce; it also pointed out the SNP Government’s work on tackling cancer has not taken a long-term approach.
As Monica Lennon outlined, chronic pain patients across our country feel that they are completely ignored, and they have had enough—they want to see action to address chronic pain. We need to take that forward, and the Parliament needs to take a serious role in considering how people who suffer from chronic pain access services in Scotland. Many of our fellow Scots who have chronic pain are fighting day in, day out just to be believed.
I hope that ministers will use the debate to understand the problems that our health service faces and will listen to the calls from across the Parliament for cross-party action. I welcome the debate. We should all be scrutinising the Government’s failing record on our NHS.
I move amendment S5M-20882.1, to insert at end:
“; believes that there is a need to improve the holistic care and support provided to NHS and social care staff, including pre- and post-shift support, in order to promote wellbeing; condemns bullying in any part of the NHS, and calls on the Scottish Government to bring a full debate on the Sturrock review before Parliament at the earliest opportunity.”
15:09Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.