Meeting of the Parliament 16 November 2022
I want to describe a situation that many of us have experienced, and I would like members to imagine it—dental pain. The pain often comes on suddenly and is often sharp and intense and then accompanied by an aching or throbbing sensation. The throbbing can develop into extreme debilitating pain, leaving us feeling sick. It takes over our waking thoughts, our mental capacity and our ability to function. We feel helpless and exasperated—just make the pain go away! In most cases, once we are treated by a dentist, that is precisely what happens. Now think about being in constant pain forever—not dental pain but significant debilitating chronic pain. Think about getting through each waking hour and the deterioration in mental health. Think about the one in five people across Scotland who live with chronic pain impacting their lives every single day.
Let us also think about the Scottish National Party Government’s decision to cut £400 million from the national health service’s front-line budget. In a typical day in general practice surgery, I spend around 80 minutes talking with patients about their chronic pain, and I spend even more time on their related mental health problems.
Chronic or persistent pain is defined as pain that carries on for longer than 12 weeks despite medication or treatment. Chronic pain can persist after an injury or operation but also affects people with diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and back pain, to name a few conditions.
We now add long Covid to the list of conditions that can inflict long-term chronic pain. That is why, more than a year ago, when 90,000 Scots were suffering with long Covid, I called on the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to establish multispeciality long Covid clinics to care for them. Now, more than 200,000 Scots struggle with long Covid, but, other than some spending announcements, we are still waiting to hear about specific actions to support those people.