Meeting of the Parliament 03 April 2019
I thank Miles Briggs for bringing his motion to Parliament today.
I am immensely proud of our health and social care staff. The quality of care and treatment provided by our staff, and the compassion and dedication that they show, are unparalleled, and we thank each and every one of them. Whatever their role, they contribute directly to our nation’s health and wellbeing, and to our society.
Of course I recognise the pressure that exists from the increasing demand on health and care services. The reasons for that are well rehearsed, but they include demographic challenges, increasingly complex care needs and advances in the care and treatment services that we are able to offer. I recognise that the pressures are felt by our staff, and that is why we have acted and will continue to act to support our workforce, increasing training numbers in nursing and midwifery, among medical undergraduates, for our medical postgraduate programme and for allied health professional pathways; promoting training pathways; supporting board recruitment and retention; promoting staff health and wellbeing; and increasing the employee voice.
Delivering sustainable services is not simply about supporting recruitment and retention. The health and wellbeing of our workforce is of fundamental importance, and that is why I am happy to support Monica Lennon’s amendment. We must keep listening to staff and learning from their experience, so I also welcome the proposal in Mr Briggs’s motion of a review of support, and I am happy to take that forward.
There is, however, a threat to our work to support our health and care services that cannot be ignored, and that is Brexit. Although I accept that some of the challenges that we face did not start with Brexit, we have had three years of waiting to see what will happen with Brexit, and we still do not know the answer. Since the inception of our health service, our health and care services have benefited from inward migration, and they have benefited, too, from our healthcare professionals working elsewhere and bringing their experience and knowledge back home to apply here. Free movement is vital for us to continue to attract dedicated professionals to help to deliver those services. It is simply wrong that our European Union health and social care staff should no longer feel welcome, and it is absolutely devastating that skilled colleagues who have built their lives here in Scotland should be planning to leave as a result. We will continue to advocate on their behalf and argue for a tailored immigration policy that meets Scotland’s needs and reflects our values.
We are taking comprehensive action to support increasing medical, nursing and midwifery trainees through the system, including bespoke support for specialty medical training and midwifery to promote both rural training and recruitment. We are maintaining free tuition fees and increasing the nursing and midwifery student bursary to £8,100 this year and £10,000 in 2020. A non-means tested bursary was scrapped in England by the United Kingdom Government. For the seventh successive year, we have increased the number of student midwifery and nursing places.
We have provided funding for adult social care workers to be paid the real living wage, benefiting up to 40,000 care workers.