Hansard

I, too, pay tribute to Jeane Freeman, given that this is the last time that she will speak in a debate in the Parliament. I am not sure that she has always welcomed my questions and interventions on the health portfolio, but I have never been in any doubt about her seriousness and earnestness in discharging her duties or about her focus on the progress in our health service that she has sought to make. She has been a thorough and an effective minister. In particular, I thank her for her very constructive direct engagement with me on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis and treatment pathways. My only regret is that the pandemic got in the way of our seeing more immediate progress on that matter. However, I genuinely thank her for that engagement.

I turn to the University of St Andrews (Degrees in Medicine and Dentistry) Bill. I, too, am pleased to support the motion and the measure. I will try very hard not to repeat what I said in the stage 1 debate or what other members have said. It is a measure of the unanimity on the proposal that that will be somewhat of a struggle.

As Donald Cameron and the cabinet secretary have pointed out, the bill essentially seeks to address an anomaly that was created in the legislation that created the University of Dundee. That anomaly was supposed to be only temporary, but it has lasted for 50 years. The anomaly could be viewed as temporary, given that the University of St Andrews has existed for 600 years; nonetheless, it is time to remove it. No other institution has such a proscription on the granting of degrees for particular subject areas.

More important, the University of St Andrews demonstrates its ability not just in medical education but in innovation. We see both elements quite strongly in the ScotGEM programme that it has been instrumental in delivering. The bill is important in encouraging its future endeavours in that regard.

It is important to highlight the innovation in the programme. The University of St Andrews is a small university; indeed, it is among our smallest. Its location is remote, so it is perhaps unlikely for it to have the innovative outlook that it undoubtedly has. It is a research powerhouse, and the programme has been at the forefront of medical education.

The programme encourages graduates to retrain in medicine and, as I highlighted in the stage 1 debate, it is undoubtedly a valuable source of medics. People who have life experience have much to offer, and a programme such as ScotGEM will provide a valuable source of doctors for the future.

St Andrews has had to deliver its medical education in a compromised way. It has not been able to provide the clinical years of education that are required, so its students have gone to Manchester and other places for that. We lose those doctors, and Scotland cannot afford to lose doctors. We need more doctors, and we need more doctors in general practice. The programme will be very good and effective at meeting both those needs.

The ScotGEM programme focuses on community medicine in rural areas. As many as 35 per cent of the students who study the course come from a rural background. Likewise, the programme has a good track record in broadening access by recruiting students from less wealthy and less affluent backgrounds. Recruiting students with those backgrounds is to be encouraged.

We cannot ignore the context in which we find ourselves. We are in the middle of a pandemic and our health service is being stretched like it has never been stretched since its inception. We need to ensure that we have people with the training and skills to work at the front line of our health service. Therefore, we need new ways into medicine and nursing, and we need to harness and embrace all the talents and skills that we have. We need programmes such as the ScotGEM programme that is offered by the universities of St Andrews and Dundee. Giving St Andrews the ability to award medical and dentistry degrees is an important step in reinforcing those efforts, even as we recognise the role that St Andrews already plays in training medics for the future.