Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2022
As I am about to go on to tell the cabinet secretary, what I am highlighting is not a new problem for the Scottish Government. Prior to the pandemic, Scotland was already behind the curve in developing an IT system that allowed the gathering and free flow of information.
In the previous session, as the cabinet secretary is aware, I raised that issue many times and with various witnesses in the Health and Sport Committee. Overwhelmingly, they agreed that a system in which communication and collaboration were enabled across all health boards, primary and secondary healthcare, pharmacies and the care system would allow for much more efficient responses.
In answer to your question, cabinet secretary, I ask you to read the report “Technology and innovation in health and social care”, which was published by the Health and Sport Committee on 1 February 2018. This is the key to your intervention on how we gather and access data:
“We note a disconnect between Scottish Government strategies and local delivery and unwanted variation between NHS boards ... We also recommend the Scottish Government takes a ‘once for Scotland’ approach to the implementation of its forthcoming Digital Health and Social Care Strategy.”
The interoperability of IT systems is essential to the achievement of the fundamentals of the Scottish Government’s draft vision. You are asking me to take data from elsewhere—