Meeting of the Parliament 19 February 2020
If I had been suggesting that, then I would have struggled along with the member. I am one minute and 13 seconds in to my speech, so give me a moment.
Where our system falls short of our expectations, we demand that action is taken to address it, because the consequences of shortcomings can be terrible. In the case of the sick kids hospital in Edinburgh, the impact includes the cost to the public purse.
Where bullying has taken place, the impact has clearly been to the detriment of staff who are trying to work to care for their fellow citizens. In the most tragic circumstances, shortcomings have ultimately resulted in the loss of life. I cannot begin to imagine the pain that is experienced by families who have lost loved ones in that way, particularly when that loss is of a child. As the health secretary, I again say how sorry I am that anyone should have had those experiences. They are not acceptable and they must be addressed and we are doing that.
Some members, including Mr Sarwar and Ms Baillie, have raised with me incredibly serious issues and have played a part in starting to see them addressed. Contributions such as theirs help to inform our on-going monitoring of boards through the escalation framework and to change the level of support and direction that boards get so that we can fix problems and failings.
As I have said before, I welcome constructive proposals from anyone to improve our health service for the benefit of patients, families and staff. Sadly, however, Ms Lennon’s motion has no such proposals. It calls for two things only: for ministers to chair annual board reviews, which we do, and for the Parliament to be able to call witnesses, which it can. If Ms Lennon has serious proposals to improve services, I will listen, but if the only contribution remains weak lines for press releases, I do not think that we will get very far.