Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 26 October 2022
26 Oct 2022 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
National Health Service (Winter Support)
I received an email at 8 pm last night. It was from a man who had taken his mother to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital with chest pains. He told me that a member of staff had just come into the packed waiting room to announce the following:
“There is an 8-hour wait to be initially reviewed. There are 14 ambulances waiting to be processed. If your issue is not life threatening, go home and call your GP tomorrow.”
He went on to say:
“The SNP and the current, not-fit-for-purpose health minister, are running this country into the ground.”
Those were his words, not mine, but there is no mistaking the anger—and that is not an isolated incident. Thousands of people are waiting more than eight hours every week across Scotland.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-06437, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on supporting the national health service in winter. I invite membe...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
I received an email at 8 pm last night. It was from a man who had taken his mother to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital with chest pains. He told me th...
Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee City West) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
No. Those delays have the most serious of consequences. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine tells us that delays in accident and emergency lead to worse...
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Humza Yousaf)
SNP
I am eager to respond in the debate, and to outline the NHS’s continuing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. No one in the Government—not I, nor my collea...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
Will the member take an intervention?
Humza Yousaf
SNP
I will not; I am sure that the member will have his moment. I have no doubt that the NHS had challenges pre-pandemic, but for Labour not to recognise that C...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Of course.
Jackie Baillie
Lab
Can the cabinet secretary explain why NHS nurses are balloting for strike action, if he is being so generous?
Humza Yousaf
SNP
Unions are still meeting to discuss the latest pay deal. I will let them have those discussions and my door will be open to try to prevent industrial action ...
Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
People are dying; they are dying avoidable deaths, and it will get worse during winter. Across the country, the Scottish Government continues to fail our Sco...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I am grateful to my friend Jackie Baillie for securing time for this important debate in the chamber. It is a timely debate. I cannot remember a time when ou...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You need to conclude, Mr Cole-Hamilton.
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
—nor the competence to make things better today. I say to the Government and to the cabinet secretary: either get it sorted or step out of the way to make ro...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
We now move to the open debate. I call Carol Mochan for up to four minutes. 15:13
Carol Mochan (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
It has been a busy week for bad news across the UK, so, understandably, the Scottish Government was hoping that its own failings would drift under the radar....
The Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport (Maree Todd)
SNP
Actions are—
Carol Mochan
Lab
The minister can shout all she likes, but what I am saying is true. These are true stories that members bring to the chamber to enable us to have a serious d...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
You need to conclude, Ms Mochan.
Carol Mochan
Lab
People truly value our NHS, but what is going on is just not good enough. One in seven Scots are now stuck on NHS waiting lists. The cabinet secretary should...
Gillian Martin (Aberdeenshire East) (SNP)
SNP
Despite being the best-performing A and E departments in the UK, Scottish A and E departments are facing capacity issues, and not just in winter. I would lik...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
Ms Martin, you need to conclude.
Gillian Martin
SNP
They undermine the very idea of politics as a public service.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
Before we proceed, I remind members again that time is tight and that you need to stick to your allocated speaking times. Members—particularly those on the f...
Tess White (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
It feels like groundhog day. In September, Nicola Sturgeon told Parliament that she wanted to see immediate improvement in A and E waiting times, but for the...
Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
I have a few points to make in the short time that I have. First, I welcome the fact that discussions are on-going and that another pay offer is on the tabl...
Tess White
Con
I think you’re in the wrong debate.
Alex Rowley
Lab
Please dinnae stand there and shout. If you have something to say, say it.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
LD
Ms White! I have already told you.