Meeting of the Parliament 03 April 2019
I will not, because we do not have a lot of time.
We cannot fix the health staffing issues immediately, but measures are being implemented by the Scottish Government to support that. One such project, which aims to support the recruitment of GPs to rural areas across Scotland, is the Scottish graduate entry to medicine programme. ScotGEM is a partnership between St Andrews and Dundee universities and NHS Scotland. It is a course oriented towards the current NHS Scotland workforce requirements, particularly in remote and rural areas, general practice and other medical specialties. While ScotGEM graduates will be entitled to enter any branch of medicine, the course and the selection of students are designed to attract those interested in a career in a rural area. In one area of the South of Scotland, five GP practices across Dumfries and Galloway are set to take part in the pilot. I look forward to seeing its outcomes.
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting our highly skilled health and social care workforce to deliver a resilient, efficient and high-quality healthcare service that is world renowned. It is already world renowned. As a member of the Health and Sport Committee, I have been involved in the safe staffing legislation as we take the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Bill forward. It is the first multidisciplinary workforce and workload planning legislation in the UK and it is now approaching stage 3. The effective application of that legislation will support the wider workforce planning process by enabling a rigorous, evidence-based approach to decision making on staffing that takes account of patients’ and users’ health and care needs.
I will pick up on a couple of points that other members have made. Prior to being elected to Parliament, I was an NHS employee for 9 years while the SNP Government was leading, and I felt positively supported in many ways. It is not the SNP’s fault that there are challenges around staffing; many issues contribute to that. The required evolution of processes to support all staff takes time. I absolutely agree with Miles Briggs, who highlighted various ideas and options for supporting staff. Monica Lennon brought that up too. I would have expanded on that further, but time will not allow.
At the end of Miles Briggs’s motion there is mention of a review and of promoting the wellbeing of, and looking after the people who care for us in Scotland—especially me when I have been in hospital in relation to my type 1 diabetes. Our goal is to support people while they are in work and to prevent sickness and absence. NHS Dumfries and Galloway has introduced that as well, and I encourage the Government to review current practices across health boards. We need to make sure that people across NHS Scotland are supported, because they are working really hard.
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