Hansard

I am not returning to this place next May and this debate is a good example of why I will miss it—we have heard thoughtful speeches from all sides of the chamber.

Shona Robison painted a picture for us and I was delighted to hear of her commitment to protecting funding for carers in the spending review that will be upon us shortly. She pointed out the funding that is being directed towards carer training programmes. I liked her expression that it is the

“small things that make a difference”,

because that is absolutely true. I am sure that each and every one of us in our work as MSPs has discovered that that little bit of attention from a doctor—Shona Robison referred to that—or a teacher taking on board why homework has not been completed makes all the difference to the young carer.

Jackie Baillie numbered the 100,000 young carers. She said, as I did in my intervention on the minister, that it is about focusing on the outcomes, a point on which members touched again and again. It obviously struck a big chord with Linda Fabiani when Jackie Baillie mentioned the problem that others spoke about of older carers looking after people with learning difficulties. I have come to admire my constituents who take on that role. As others have said, those old people will die before the person for whom they are caring. Such people often live only with the person for whom they care and they have a peculiar form of courage that I am sure we all recognise. Jackie Baillie also asked a crucial question about what emergency planning is in place for when something happens.

Mary Scanlon welcomed the investment in telehealth. She was right to mention it and I have no doubt that more will be said about it in the future. She said that the move from children’s to adults’ services is a chasm that sometimes is not crossed as easily as we would like.

My colleague Ross Finnie was correct when he said that co-operation between health boards and local authorities is not always as we would like it to be. As members know, I have some experience of being a carer and I have come across that problem. It has got better, but there can sometimes be a gap between the health board and social work, particularly when a family member becomes a carer unexpectedly because of a medical intervention or something of that nature. When the person who has to be cared for leaves hospital, one is sometimes not too sure what happens next. Although we could fine-tune that situation, I do not decry in any way what has happened in the past.

Bob Doris was correct to warn us against short-term thinking. His exchange with Cathy Jamieson on kinship care was informative, not just to me, but I am sure to the whole chamber. It was an important point.

Mary Mulligan spoke of the involvement of carers and carers organisations in drafting the report, and that is to be welcomed. She was right when she said that it is about valuing carers. I am sure that we all get frustrated by the fact that the many people who do good work in our society do not seem to get the recognition that they deserve. I am not talking about honours, but often people could do with recognition, which could make all the difference to carers. Whether it is an old person looking after someone with learning difficulties or a young carer looking after an alcoholic or drug-addicted parent, they need to be sung to the skies.

Mary Mulligan made an important point, which Cathy Peattie echoed in her speech a few minutes ago, about the stress that carers experience. If a person is caring for someone who is wetting the bed and that happens again, or if something goes wrong and they have to deal with it, that is the time they need a drink or a fag and their blood pressure goes up. That is what respite is all about.

In his impassioned plea for real delivery, Hugh O’Donnell correctly criticised silo thinking. The point is linked to what Ross Finnie, I and others are saying about the disconnect between various services that sometimes exists.

Members would expect me to mention the huge challenge that is presented by distance and rurality. Crossroads Care has been mentioned. Crossroads in east Sutherland in my constituency may deal with people who live in very remote locations. By necessity, those carers often have to deal with issues by themselves. I am sure that many members will remember the young children from east Sutherland who came here during the first session and put on a little play in one of our old committee rooms about what it is like to look after a parent and to be ticked off for not having done one’s homework. Many of those kids live up straths and in very remote locations. I plead with the minister not to forget the challenges that rurality and distance present.

I conclude where I started. Recognition of carers and of what they can and do contribute is hugely important. I do not know whether we can encourage councils or others to do a trawl, by means of the experts on the ground, of people who are working hard; that may not cost much money. I am happy to take advice on the matter, but just giving people a certificate to say that they should be proud of what they are doing and that they are contributing to society, are doing something great and deserve the country’s thanks would be helpful.

16:07