Committee
Public Petitions Committee 01 March 2016
01 Mar 2016 · S4 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Continued Petitions
NHS Centre for Integrative Care (PE1568)
Dr Kohli made a very gallant case for why the decision was made, but I failed to grasp why it was made when all the witnesses agreed that the patients were happy with the service that they received. To me, that overturns any other consideration. Health boards are there to provide a service, and if people are happy with the service that they are receiving, why is the centre being closed, or rather, why are health boards not letting people use it? I could not fathom why the patients who use the service, who are happy with it, are being ignored. Very few patients today are happy with the service that they receive, but in this case people are happy with the service. That fact has been ignored, and I think that that is wrong.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
PE1568, by Catherine Hughes, is on the funding of, access to and promotion of the NHS centre for integrative care. Elaine Smith is staying with us for consid...
Elaine Smith
Lab
I was just going to listen to the committee’s thoughts about the evidence session and about how you were intending to take the matter forward. I think that i...
John Wilson
Ind
I agree with Elaine Smith. It is an issue that I would like to see included in our legacy paper. There are a number of decisions that are still to be made by...
Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
Dr Kohli made a very gallant case for why the decision was made, but I failed to grasp why it was made when all the witnesses agreed that the patients were h...
Jackson Carlaw
Con
I think that that was another slightly unsatisfactory evidence session. As Hanzala Malik has said, it was difficult not to arrive at the conclusion that the ...
The Convener
Lab
I agree with that. I think that there is a large body of work that the next health committee could look at. Questions have been raised because of the evidenc...
John Wilson
Ind
I stand to be corrected, but it is my understanding that the CIC was supposed to become the national pain clinic. Therefore, there are other issues at stake....
Jackson Carlaw
Con
To respond to John Wilson, the one thing that I thought we gleaned from the evidence session was that the national pain relief centre would not be contingent...
John Wilson
Ind
I agree that the witnesses told us that the national pain centre would not be contingent on the existence of the centre for integrative care, but I would lik...
The Convener
Lab
That is a very valid point. If there is to be only one centre to serve the whole of Scotland, we cannot have the local health board footing the bill for it a...
Elaine Smith
Lab
On that point, there was also concern that the national pain centre might exist instead of the centre for integrative care, so that is another issue.
The Convener
Lab
Okay. We need to get clarification on those issues, which requires us to keep the petition open in order to pursue them. Members have made a number of sugges...