Hansard

Item 2 is the consideration of new petitions. As always, for those who might be tuning in, because we are considering a petition for the first time, we invite the Parliament’s independent research body, the Scottish Parliament information centre—SPICe—to offer its reflections on the petition, and we also invite the Scottish Government to give its initial thoughts on the petition. That does not in any way determine the outcome of the petition, but it does mean that we proceed on an informed basis. The first new petition is PE2016, which was lodged by Gordon McPherson. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to raise awareness of the risk factors, signs and symptoms of thrombosis. Jackie Baillie has stayed with us for this petition as well, having an interest in it. According to NHS Inform, deep vein thrombosis—DVT, as I think that many now know it—is “a blood clot that develops within a deep vein in the body, usually in the leg. Blood clots that develop in a vein are also known as venous thrombosis. DVT usually occurs in a deep leg vein, a larger vein that runs through the muscles of the calf and the thigh. It can also occur in the pelvis or abdomen. It can cause pain and swelling in the leg and may lead to complications such as pulmonary embolism.” The Scottish Government’s response to the petition explains that it carefully prioritises the issues to which funding and staff resource are allocated, with the close input of clinicians. Given that it has already provided updated material to clinicians and revised the guidance available to the general public on NHS Inform on thrombosis, the Scottish Government does not consider that this is the right time for a major public awareness campaign. It does, however, commit to running a “package of activity” on the Scottish Government’s health social media account on thrombosis awareness later this year. The petitioner’s further submission responds to the Scottish Government’s cited statistics on thrombosis, highlighting that the higher numbers provided in his petition were taken from a ministerial answer to a question lodged by Jackie Baillie MSP. Therefore, before I ask members whether they wish to come in, especially in the light of the Scottish Government’s quite clear direction, is there anything that Jackie Baillie would like to say to the committee?