Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2025 [Draft]
I am sorry, but I am short for time.
I do not know how often that happens, but if it happened in the number of cases that I have heard about, it is far too often.
The number of stillbirths in Scotland has dropped quite significantly, but it has plateaued in the past few years. We have not made further progress on the reduction, and we do not have a target like there is in England. We should be aiming to have a target.
My final point to the cabinet secretary is that I can understand the pragmatic way in which he is going about this. He believes that the task force is the best way to proceed, but I think that the issues are bigger. We need somebody with authority from outside the system—crudely—to rattle the cage and to make the necessary changes. I do not think that a task force with representatives from inside the current system will be enough to address all the issues that I have highlighted this afternoon.
The one thing that is for sure is that, for the families who are in the gallery today, we must do everything that we can to make changes so that we reduce the possibility of this ever happening again.
I move amendment S6M-19512.1, to insert at end:
“; notes that, following the downgrading of the consultant-led maternity unit at Caithness General Hospital in 2016, women in Caithness can face a 100 mile trip down the A9 to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to give birth, and calls on the Scottish Government to commission an independent review of maternity services in Caithness.”
15:38Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.