Hansard

Finlay Carson touches on the important issue of attraction and retention, which is being worked on by the nursing and midwifery task force. We need to see an expansion of routes into the profession and want to ensure that we do that equitably across Scotland, so that services in rural areas can be improved.

The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 was the first comprehensive, multidisciplinary workforce planning legislation in Scotland and is the most comprehensive of its kind in the United Kingdom. We have recognised the vital role of the social care workforce with a pay uplift to £12 per hour for adult social care workers in commissioned services.

Alongside that support for workforce wellbeing, productivity and moving into service, our reforms can and must be accelerated and enriched by the transformative potential of scientific innovation. Last week, the Deputy First Minister and I co-chaired a round-table meeting on game-changing technologies. That event brought together key leaders from the life sciences industry, academia, the NHS and Government to discuss advances in science and technology that can transform lives and the implementation of services.

Medical research is moving faster than ever. New preventative technologies are supporting people to manage their own health better and to prevent and mitigate disease. Wearable devices are helping people to take ownership of their own health, while new diagnostic and screening methods can support the NHS in identifying and treating disease before symptoms appear.

There is huge potential in personalised and precision medicine, gene therapies and robotic surgery, so we will proceed with a new partnership between Government, the NHS, our academic institutions and the life sciences industry to focus on seizing the opportunities to empower patients, liberate clinicians, drive efficiencies and prevent ill health. I am pleased to announce today that five Scottish institutions—the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, St Andrews and Strathclyde, along with Public Health Scotland—have each been awarded £1 million of funding, through the chief scientist’s office, to conduct major research programmes into population health in Scotland. The five programmes that have been awarded funding have the potential to make a significant impact.

I am aware that some in this chamber have already called for structural change, but the urgent focus of change must be on transforming services within the current structures and maximising our current assets. I will work to implement an NHS Scotland approach that will harness greater levels of collaboration in our health boards and partners, resulting in better value, quality and outcomes for patients and staff.

There will be Government-led national engagement. We must ensure that we are fully committed to the engagement that can inform our plans, which will take a person-centred approach, ensuring that we utilise our incredible workforce.

We have established a primary and community health steering group to bring together a range of health stakeholders and an expert reference group will be convened this autumn to provide independent input, advice and an additional independent and international perspective. A stakeholder advisory group will also bring together a cross section of professional associations, including COSLA, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, regulators and others that are in service delivery. I look forward to hearing directly from them to translate the vision into delivery across the system. We will listen to all voices and, by the end of the year, I hope to have brought them to bear on the actions that we will take.

There is no more important issue to a nation than the health of its people. I am not looking to publish another strategy. Our work is already being guided by multiple plans—notably, the national clinical strategy of 2016. Our task now centres on listening and delivery.

I am pleased and privileged to open the debate, and I welcome all contributions.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises the urgent and critical need for health and social care reform within the context of an ageing population, persistent health inequalities and fiscal pressures, whilst ensuring that the founding principle that the NHS in Scotland remains in the hands of the public and is free at the point of use will not change; agrees that reform must focus on a more sustainable healthcare system, performance improvement, prevention, providing quality services and maximising access, with a foundation of due consideration for the people at the heart of Scotland’s health and social care services, including the workforce; recognises the importance of continuing to invest in mental health and GP services, including the investment of £190 million in 2024-25 for multi-disciplinary teams to support general practice and the new support for protected learning time in GP practices, and supports the Scottish Government’s commitment to a national engagement that will inform and inspire the reform programme.