Hansard

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing) SNP

The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-17869, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on addressing Scotland’s medical and nursing workforce crisis. I in...

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab) Lab

Our national health service is on its knees. There are thousands of vacancies for doctors and nurses, and yet we are turning them away as posts lie unfilled ...

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Neil Gray) SNP

Will the member take an intervention?

Jackie Baillie Lab

No—I think that you should listen. It costs £300,000 to train a single doctor to the point at which they can land a specialty training place, and we are als...

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

I call the cabinet secretary, Neil Gray, to speak to and move amendment S6M-17869.2. 15:00

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care (Neil Gray) SNP

In this chamber, I have always been candid about the challenges that our NHS faces, and today will be no different. Once again, I put on record my deep appr...

Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con) Con

How many newly qualified paediatric nurses have found vacancies that enable them to take up a job?

Neil Gray SNP

I am aware that a limited number, on a geographical basis, have found that a struggle, but, as I have just said, a wide range of vacancies are available for ...

Brian Whittle (South Scotland) (Con) Con

Will the cabinet secretary give way?

Neil Gray SNP

Would I be able to get the time back, Presiding Officer?

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

There is very limited time.

Neil Gray SNP

I give way briefly.

Brian Whittle Con

I appreciate the cabinet secretary giving way, because I have a genuine question. When my daughter qualified as a midwife, there were 10 times as many applic...

Neil Gray SNP

I recognise that there are areas in our health service that are particularly attractive, such as paramedicine, midwifery and paediatric nursing. We want to e...

The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP

Cabinet secretary, I have been generous with your time, but you need to conclude.

Neil Gray SNP

A vast amount of work is under way, both from a workforce perspective and from a reform and renewal perspective. The population health framework and the heal...

Sandesh Gulhane (Glasgow) (Con) Con

I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner and a former chair of the BMA GP trainees committee. In my experience in my GP surgery, I see...

Lorna Slater (Lothian) (Green) Green

Everyone in Scotland, including everyone in the chamber, recognises the challenges that our NHS is facing. Of course, we are fortunate to still have a fully ...

Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab

Will the member acknowledge that hundreds of her constituents are going private because they cannot get appointments on the NHS in Scotland?

Lorna Slater Green

I do not disagree that there is a crisis in NHS Scotland. I will come to that, but the member will also acknowledge that many of the problems that we face in...

Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) LD

I am pleased to speak in the debate, although I am tired of saying that there is an NHS workforce crisis, as we do so repeatedly. It is a crisis, and that fa...

Neil Gray SNP

Will Alex Cole-Hamilton take an intervention?

Alex Cole-Hamilton LD

I am afraid that I must make progress. The NHS does not need more pilot schemes. It needs action and genuine change. It needs conversations—difficult conver...

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur) LD

We move to the open debate. 15:20

Carol Mochan (South Scotland) (Lab) Lab

I am pleased to speak on an issue that concerns the very backbone of our NHS: its workforce. I begin by echoing other members’ points about the value of our ...

Neil Gray SNP

Will the member give way?

The Deputy Presiding Officer LD

The member is concluding her speech.

Carol Mochan Lab

I am closing—I apologise. I hope that members will support Labour’s motion, which recognises the on-going workforce crisis and calls on the Government to un...

Christine Grahame (Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale) (SNP) SNP

First, I do not accept that the NHS in Scotland is in crisis. It avoided being in crisis even at the height of the Covid pandemic, which was due, in the main...

Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab) Lab

In securing the debate, Scottish Labour is confronting the crisis that is gripping the NHS in Scotland. That crisis is not simply measured in statistics; it ...