Meeting of the Parliament 15 December 2015
I am pleased to be able to take part in this important debate. Like Jackson Carlaw, I thank the Scottish Government for the content of the motion, particularly the recognition that it is challenging to recruit and retain GPs. I also welcome the cabinet secretary’s commitment to tackle that issue.
I want to reply to the comments of Dr Simpson—who appears not to be here—and Margaret McCulloch. We have heard about the Labour Party in Wales. I think that we should hear about what is happening here in Scotland and the care that we are providing. Primary care in Scotland is outperforming others parts of the UK. I wonder why the Labour Party has not mentioned that. A survey in 2013-14 has shown that 87 per cent of people in Scotland rated the overall care provided by their GP surgery as good or excellent compared with 85 per cent of people in England.
I could go on about how good the health service is here, but I will not be petty, which is how the Labour Party appears to be acting today. Its members’ behaviour earlier could point towards some form of healthcare for themselves rather than anything else. It was a dereliction of duty to attack this Parliament and the Presiding Officer, but maybe they will grow up in time. I will leave that thought with the Opposition Labour members and let them get on with things.
I welcome Sir Lewis Ritchie’s report and his 28 recommendations. I think that Professor Mercer was involved, too. Recommendations 1 to 4 reflected the need for better, innovative models of care that will improve co-ordination and communication. That is absolutely correct, and communication is important.
Recommendations 8 to 19 reflected the need for compelling and pressing action to shore up and rapidly enhance the capability of an increasingly diverse and multidisciplinary workforce. I think that that has been mentioned in the debate. We must work and learn together more closely and effectively around patients and carers’ needs. That is important, because we are talking about the needs of patients and carers. I would emphasise the word “carers”, because they have not been mentioned much at all in the debate. Carers need help, too. Indeed, some are not in the best of health themselves. Sometimes, they have to care for elderly parents; sometimes, they have to care for young disabled children. Carers are an important part of the equation.
The most important recommendations, which Nigel Don touched on, are on the potential roles of health and social care partnerships and integration joint boards. South Lanarkshire has been mentioned, and Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board is in my constituency. We do not have a level playing on health and social care integration across local authorities or on what is delivered. In Glasgow, a huge number of people are being kept in hospital. Glasgow City Council social care services has told me that each area service is given a set target number of placements that it can make in each month. That does not happen across the board.
Health and social care integration is needed to ensure that we do not have bed blocking. The NHS should not have to pick up the tab. Although that is not how it is supposed to work with integration, that is how it works in Glasgow. That is sad, because people who could be being cared for at home are instead languishing in hospital beds and not getting the proper care or treatment. Basically, the hospital wants to get those people out because they would benefit from staying at home or in a care home.