Meeting of the Parliament 02 March 2017
I thank the cabinet secretary and I am delighted that she raised the issue, because when I raised it at First Minister’s question time we did not get to cover the point that our FOI request was for information on people who are left in hospital beyond the point at which they are declared to be fit to go home, entirely because of the social care package being unavailable—not because of houses being built or specific secure care needs. I am glad that we have had the opportunity to thrash that out.
I want to return to a more consensual tone. The issue presents an immediate challenge for the patient safety programme, because we know that prolonged stays in hospital increase patient exposure to pressure sores and hospital-acquired infection—albeit that we are doing well in reducing the incidence of such harm, as we have heard.
Put simply, if we can get the workforce planning right and, by extension, reduce delayed discharge, we can take a giant leap forward in improving patient safety. I therefore welcome the steps that the cabinet secretary has outlined towards a plan for workforce planning.
The locus of the programme rightly extends beyond the traditional institutions in which health and social care are delivered. With the advent of new initiatives such as hospital at home, as well as the decades-old approach of care in the community, we must ensure that patients are kept safe in any setting where they receive care. First and foremost, that must follow a proactive and preventative approach in which we anticipate and mitigate risk from the outset.
In December, I had the great honour of chairing the older people’s assembly in this chamber. It was a fantastic event at which there was a robust and vibrant exchange of views. At one session, I asked everyone assembled what they were most worried about, and I was surprised to learn that, among those present, fear of falling outstripped fear of crime, loneliness and money worries. Given the commonness of falls and the direct causal link between them and senior mortality, there is a great desire among older citizens for us as policymakers to take action. That is why I call today on the Scottish Government to develop a national falls strategy that will build on the work of the falls prevention framework of 2014.