Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 19 September 2012
19 Sep 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Patient Care
I will concentrate my remarks on the Scottish Ambulance Service and start by paying tribute to the excellent staff who operate our ambulances and our control rooms.
However, the Scottish Ambulance Service is an emergency service that covers only urban areas. Many areas in the Highlands and Islands receive no emergency service from the Scottish Ambulance Service and it is left to NHS boards to pick up the pieces. I have a couple of examples of that. We had a recent case in Ardnamurchan in which NHS Highland had provided an on-call nurse to tend to emergencies because the nearest Scottish Ambulance Service ambulance was based more than an hour away. When the postholder left, it was NHS Highland that was left to deal with the fallout regarding emergency provision. The best that the Scottish Ambulance Service could suggest was the use of first responders. In other words, it sought to rely on unpaid members of the community to do its job for it. Indeed, it asked volunteer firefighters whether they could take on the job.
My second example concerns Glenelg, where the community raised significant concerns when their GP was seconded, because that GP had provided emergency cover. The nearest ambulance station is in Kyle, which is probably about an hour away over difficult roads, on which the conditions are dangerous in winter. Worse still, when there are staff shortages, the station in Kyle is often covered by staff who are based in Broadford in Skye. It is surely wrong that the Scottish Ambulance Service reneges on its responsibility to those communities.
In the past, single manning of ambulances was commonplace in the Highlands and Islands. Indeed, I heard tales of situations in which two ambulances and an air ambulance tried to attend to one casualty, because the distances were so large and the ambulances were inadequately staffed. Nicola Sturgeon appeared to address that issue and promised the Parliament that that would happen only in exceptional circumstances.
However, staffing shortages mean that single crewing is again becoming commonplace. Alternatively, shifts are covered by people who live some distance apart. We hear stories of delays in responding to 999 calls while the ambulance waits for back-up to arrive from the nearest station. That can take a lot of time and put people’s lives at risk. Such delays in responding to 999 calls are worse in areas in which geography means that response times are already far too long.
However, the Scottish Ambulance Service is an emergency service that covers only urban areas. Many areas in the Highlands and Islands receive no emergency service from the Scottish Ambulance Service and it is left to NHS boards to pick up the pieces. I have a couple of examples of that. We had a recent case in Ardnamurchan in which NHS Highland had provided an on-call nurse to tend to emergencies because the nearest Scottish Ambulance Service ambulance was based more than an hour away. When the postholder left, it was NHS Highland that was left to deal with the fallout regarding emergency provision. The best that the Scottish Ambulance Service could suggest was the use of first responders. In other words, it sought to rely on unpaid members of the community to do its job for it. Indeed, it asked volunteer firefighters whether they could take on the job.
My second example concerns Glenelg, where the community raised significant concerns when their GP was seconded, because that GP had provided emergency cover. The nearest ambulance station is in Kyle, which is probably about an hour away over difficult roads, on which the conditions are dangerous in winter. Worse still, when there are staff shortages, the station in Kyle is often covered by staff who are based in Broadford in Skye. It is surely wrong that the Scottish Ambulance Service reneges on its responsibility to those communities.
In the past, single manning of ambulances was commonplace in the Highlands and Islands. Indeed, I heard tales of situations in which two ambulances and an air ambulance tried to attend to one casualty, because the distances were so large and the ambulances were inadequately staffed. Nicola Sturgeon appeared to address that issue and promised the Parliament that that would happen only in exceptional circumstances.
However, staffing shortages mean that single crewing is again becoming commonplace. Alternatively, shifts are covered by people who live some distance apart. We hear stories of delays in responding to 999 calls while the ambulance waits for back-up to arrive from the nearest station. That can take a lot of time and put people’s lives at risk. Such delays in responding to 999 calls are worse in areas in which geography means that response times are already far too long.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-04161, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on patient care.I remind members who wish to speak in the debate to...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
There are undoubtedly real and pressing challenges in our national health service, which are starting to have a significant impact on patient care and patien...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
Ms Baillie must recognise that there are more nurses and midwives now than there were in nine out of 10 years when Labour was in government. Is that a fact, ...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I am afraid that that is nonsense. The Royal College of Nursing says that the number of nurses and midwives has reduced by 2,500. It is at a seven-year low. ...
Margo MacDonald (Lothian) (Ind)
Ind
Will the member give way?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
In a second.Another paramedic described being alone with a child with a head injury and being unable to transport him to hospital because they were waiting f...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I am terribly sorry, but I cannot give way to Margo MacDonald, as I have very little time.The picture is extremely worrying. The NHS is struggling—there is n...
The Minister for Public Health (Michael Matheson)
SNP
It is often the case that facts do not feature heavily in Labour Party contributions in its health debates. No one should be in any doubt about the Governmen...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I have made clear on a number of occasions our absolute view that the NHS budget should be protected. I am disappointed that the minister still fails to unde...
Michael Matheson
SNP
Unfortunately, Jackie Baillie’s problem is that her leader overruled her at the time that we are talking about. On “Newsnight Scotland”, Iain Gray said:“We w...
Margo MacDonald
Ind
I would like to get this right. Does the Government allege that it is spending £800 million or so more on the health service than was spent on the health ser...
Michael Matheson
SNP
I can tell Margo MacDonald that, as I said, by 2014-15, we will have a record £11.6 billion going into our NHS, which is the highest amount that the NHS has ...
Jackson Carlaw (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
We are not here to debate Wales; we are not here to debate the national health service in England; and we are not even here any longer—after six years—to deb...
Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Jackson Carlaw
Con
I will at the end of my sentence, if I may.I do not believe for a moment that what they have been doing has been designed to undermine the NHS, but it smacks...
Jamie Hepburn
SNP
I am not sure that the end of the sentence was worth waiting for—
Jackson Carlaw
Con
In that case, I will move on without letting Mr Hepburn take the intervention any further.The challenge to the NHS is considerable. We know that a demographi...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
We move to the open debate, with speeches of four minutes, please.16:16
Aileen McLeod (South Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I congratulate Alex Neil on his new role as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and wish him well in taking on the portfolio. I know that, whatever co...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Aileen McLeod
SNP
If I thought for one second that the Labour Party had anything positive or constructive to say in this debate, I would gladly take an intervention from Jacki...
Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab)
Lab
We have heard from colleagues who have touched on a number of areas where patient care has fallen below acceptable standards. In my brief speech, I will focu...
Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
SNP
Earlier this week, the Royal College of Nursing launched a campaign called “This is nursing”, to challenge the negative publicity about patient neglect and p...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I have been in the chamber time after time when the SNP has essentially hidden behind the NHS staff. It is NHS staff who are coming to me with stories about ...
Jamie Hepburn
SNP
It may be a surprise to Jackie Baillie, but we all have constituents who work in the NHS and we all hear issues of concern, which we rightly take forward. Le...
Margo MacDonald
Ind
Rather than going into the records, because we will never agree on that, could we try to find agreement on why there should be a shortfall on the wards? I sp...
Jamie Hepburn
SNP
I would be delighted, as always, to speak to Ms MacDonald. If she does not mind, though, I will decide on the content of my speech.I heard Jackie Baillie say...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab)
Lab
I will concentrate my remarks on the Scottish Ambulance Service and start by paying tribute to the excellent staff who operate our ambulances and our control...
Dave Thompson (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member give way?
Rhoda Grant
Lab
I will not take an intervention, because time is very short and I have many points to make.That is not the only issue that puts patients at risk; dropped shi...