Meeting of the Parliament 21 February 2017
I thank Donald Cameron for his series of questions, and for what he said about being eager and keen to work consensually to deliver on the report’s recommendations.
On Donald Cameron’s point about neonatal provision and his concerns about what he described as a “reduction”, there will always continue to be 15 neonatal units across the country. We are talking in the report about ensuring that we have the clinically specialised care that will allow us to deliver better outcomes for the sickest babies. That is where careful planning will be required, with progression to enhance care for those babies. I am talking about only a small proportion of the babies that are born in Scotland, but that is why it is important that we deliver that specialised care. As we do that, we will take care to work with clinicians, parents and professionals, and we will ensure that co-production and collaboration allow us to proceed based on consensus. As I said in my statement, I will continue to ensure that, as that develops, we keep Parliament informed of any moves.
On the workforce, there is no doubt that what is suggested represents a fundamental shift in the way in which people will be required to work, but it is also important to recognise that that was a key message about what professionals want in engagement with them. That is how they want to deliver maternity services across the country. It is important that we recognise that we have in place a workforce strategy and good numbers of midwives in our NHS. We will continue to work with professionals to ensure that we can develop and improve on the current situation, which is based on a position of strength, and we will work with staff as best we can in delivering on the recommendations.
On the need to ensure that we deliver for women in rural areas—I think that that was the last point that Donald Cameron raised—we want, of course, to ensure that women have appropriate choice, which is part and parcel of the report’s recommendations. We must remodel existing care structures to deliver for women and give them appropriate choice, but we must also recognise that, in some cases, more specialism will be required, and that a bit more will be required to be done in order to work out where those specialisms will be delivered. That is the basis on which the neonatal recommendations are being taken forward.
Much of the work will be delivered by the implementation group. It will be done at an appropriate pace so that we can deliver good outcomes for women and babies.