Committee
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee 11 September 2024
11 Sep 2024 · S6 · Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Specialist Neonatal Units (Centralisation) (PE2099)
I will get straight into the points that I want to raise. First, the recommendations that led to the proposals to downgrade Wishaw neonatal unit have not been subject to a robust or thorough equality or human rights impact assessment. That is an issue in relation to parents and families but also in relation to babies, because they, too, have rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child—a right to life, a right to survival and a right to development—and that has not been properly taken into account. Secondly, the clinical advice that has been used to justify the decision is now five years old. Thirdly, neither the current minister nor her predecessors have ever visited the Wishaw neonatal unit to speak to the staff there to get their expert view. Fourthly, as Jackie Baillie and Monica Lennon have mentioned, the concentration of the provision of these intensive care resources will bring about capacity and resilience issues. It is extremely difficult to understand the feasibility of families from central and southern Scotland having to go to Aberdeen, which will have one of the proposed three centres. There has been centralisation of these services in other parts of the UK, but there has not been any proper evaluation of those that could be factored into any decisions that the Scottish Government takes. ScotSTAR and the Scottish Ambulance Service will be significantly affected by the changes and they have not been fully involved in the process. There has been no assessment of the impact on their services. Finally, this is an issue in Lanarkshire and in Wishaw but there is also an issue about how we provide these services across the whole of Scotland. That is an issue for every member of this committee and every member of this Parliament. We simply ask this committee to take up some of these issues in relation to the extent to which the assessments have been made, the impact on staff, the impact on capacity, the impact on resilience and the impact not just on human rights but human lives.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Con
For our next petition, which was lodged by Lynne McRitchie, we are joined by a galaxy of talent—Laughter. Mr Ewing, please. Lynne McRitchie is not with us t...
Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I have been once before in relation to the treatment of young footballers.
The Convener
Con
That is right; I recall it now. Welcome to you both. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to stop the planned downg...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
Thank you, convener. I do not know whether the collective noun is a suite of MSPs. I thought of a posse of MSPs, but I like your description even better: a g...
The Convener
Con
Thank you, Jackie Baillie. I should say that we, too, welcome Alfie. The tones of the committee members were soporific and he was very quiet earlier, but I n...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
They were sounds of approval, convener.
The Convener
Con
We have a few minutes each for Monica Lennon and Richard Leonard to speak. We have a fixed amount of time, so please be mindful of that.
Monica Lennon
Lab
Thank you, convener. I appreciate that this is my second appearance at the committee this morning. I will reinforce Jackie Baillie’s comments about safety. ...
The Convener
Con
I encourage you to sum up now.
Monica Lennon
Lab
In conclusion, we fear that, if the issue is left in the hands of the Government, with its flawed data and lack of meaningful consultation, we will have a ve...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. I am interested to hear whether Richard Leonard passes the Alfie test, because he was very quiet during Monica Lennon’s evidence on this occasion....
Richard Leonard
Lab
I will get straight into the points that I want to raise. First, the recommendations that led to the proposals to downgrade Wishaw neonatal unit have not bee...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. I have been enjoying and reflecting on the evidence that has been given by the three of you. At the risk of creating panic among the clerks and my...
David Torrance
SNP
I agree with your comments. Could the committee write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health to ask whether clinicians and staff at neonatal in...
The Convener
Con
I also suggest that we invite the relevant members who have been involved in the petition to accompany us on our visit. We could liaise with them about peopl...
The Convener
Con
Thank you. I hope that we can don something with this petition and make some progress on if. We can speak again in an effort to progress that. That brings u...