Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2023
I recognise them, and I am saying exactly that, but I cannot understand how the member can come here and trot off that political spiel without recognising that we have a national shortage of midwives, that neonatal services in this country are being cut and that they are struggling to provide the level of service that their many dedicated and hard-working staff members would like to offer.
Parents in my constituency are fundraising for key hospital equipment. Families are struggling to access national health service services that are near enough to their home, so they are having to travel for hours to access those services, and are then struggling to find accommodation and keep their family together.
We have had promises of flexibility. Willie Rennie made a point about the childcare policy; it is a really positive policy, but having it means nothing if you cannot access it. Those sorts of policies get announced in Parliament but they evaporate the minute we leave the chamber, because they cannot be delivered on the ground.
What about people who are trying to find a dentist for their child or to get them the chance to see a doctor quickly? What about the pressure that health visitors are under? Health visitors are great, but if they must look after more children than they personally can manage to cope with and support, they find themselves overburdened, stressed, stretched and completely disheartened. They are unable to provide the bespoke support that families who most need that help and intervention are trying to access, never mind provide access to speech and language and mental health services. I do not think that members across the chamber need new evidence to know that those services are in crisis.
The Government has the power to do something about all that now, and it really should.
16:03