Hansard

I congratulate Nanette Milne on securing the debate and I congratulate the self-styled “old codgers” who had enough gumption to get up and do something themselves. That is the epitome of what we want Scots to do about their health. At one time, we had virtually the worst record in Europe on cardiac health. That is changing for the better, at least in part because the people of Scotland realise that we need to do something about it ourselves as individuals and as groups.

We ought to encourage groups of patients to address such issues. GCRA has been extremely effective in engaging with the professionals and, in particular, in funding the training of instructors at the appropriate nationally recognised levels. It is to its great credit that it raised—I think—around £18,000 to train 24 instructors to deliver the classes.

Nanette Milne did not, I am sure, mean to exclude the city of Aberdeen when she said that the GCRA operates throughout Aberdeenshire—that was, surely, a slip of the tongue—given that the classes are delivered throughout the NHS Grampian area. Not only are the classes delivered on different days and at different times, but they allow people individual choice about the kind of exercises in which they want to participate. People are given lots of opportunities to take part at levels that they are capable of achieving.

Undoubtedly, the classes provide a benefit not just to cardiac health: all sorts of evidence suggests that people who take up the classes feel better about themselves. For some folk—most individuals who might need cardiac rehabilitation will be older people—the classes can also be a great social occasion. Certainly, the prime movers behind the association seem to have taken up a considerable interest not just in their personal health, but in contributing to the general wellbeing of their colleagues throughout the area.

One question is whether cardiac rehabilitation, instead of being restricted, as it is at present, primarily to those who have already suffered a heart attack, might be advanced or offered to those who are at greater risk of having a heart attack. Many people who have angina—especially those who have chronic angina, although there might be other groups of people as well—might get exactly the same benefits. Perhaps that could be considered.

Of course, it is always a challenge for any Government to find finance for training facilities and so on to deliver change. However, given the cost benefit analysis that is available for cardiac rehabilitation—and given the dedicated commitment that the GCRA has shown in its fundraising efforts—we should encourage the provision of such services throughout Scotland, and perhaps encourage its being broadened to include other groups of people who have cardiac difficulties.