Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2025
I need to make some progress, so I hope that members will forgive me. I will see whether I can come to Mr Kerr later.
I know that members of the Parliament will agree that the safety and wellbeing of mothers, babies and staff must be our priority. I also want to reassure pregnant women and their families that our maternity and neonatal services are safe, although I will talk about situations in which that has not been the case.
Women in Scotland have the right to choose where to give birth, and those who choose to give birth in our hospitals can be assured that they are the safest possible place to give birth, with access to the best possible care. Wherever women choose to give birth, whether in an obstetric-led unit, a midwifery-led unit or at home, they can and should expect the highest quality of care that is tailored to their needs. That is why I accept the initial part of Ms Baillie’s motion and why I am sympathetic to the majority of Mr Gulhane’s amendment.
As I said in my statement last week, I share concerns about Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s report into maternity services in Lothian and those raised by the BBC “Disclosure” documentary. The findings are completely unacceptable, and it is right that the Parliament takes a firm position that improvements must be made urgently, which I welcome the opportunity for today.
I also recognise—not least following the conversation that I have just had with Lori Quate and Willie Rennie, for which I am very grateful to them both—that trust has been broken between families who have been let down and the NHS. I am determined to ensure that families have the opportunity to feed into the improvements that we want to see and to share their experiences candidly. I am therefore exploring whether that can be done through the HIS inspection process. I will also ask the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland for her views on how we do that most effectively when I meet her next week.