Hansard

I, too, pay tribute to Martin Whitfield for bringing this excellent motion to the chamber, and I commend all colleagues for their excellent and thoughtful speeches.

As the Minister for Higher and Further Education, and as an Edinburgh constituency MSP, it is a real privilege and a pleasure for me to close this debate marking three centuries of formal medical teaching at the University of Edinburgh—an anniversary that invites us to celebrate and reflect.

In 1726, amidst the intellectual ferment of the Scottish enlightenment, Edinburgh established a faculty of medicine whose influence has radiated across Scotland and around the world through the years since. I declare an interest not just as a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, but because it was the pull of the medical school’s expertise that brought my mother to Edinburgh from England to study medicine and then contribute to our national health service as a doctor for more than 30 years.

It is that excellence that we celebrate today, as well as the history. From the outset, Edinburgh set a standard for vigorous, anatomically grounded education, embodied in the Monro dynasty of anatomy professors, whose 126-year stewardship helped to define the modern medical curriculum and placed our capital city at the forefront of clinical teaching.

Members have talked about the many people who have gone through the medical school, and the roll call of figures associated with it is extraordinary. Sir James Young Simpson pioneered the clinical use of chloroform, transforming obstetrics and surgery and, in time, everyday medical practice, changing the administration of pain management forever. Joseph Lister, the regius professor of clinical surgery, applied germ theory to the operating theatre and ushered in antisepsis, carbolic hand washing, sterilisation of instruments and cleaner air during surgery, dramatically cutting the number of post-operative deaths and laying the foundations for the safe surgery that we have today.

As has been rightly emphasised by others, Edinburgh’s story is also one of courage and inclusion, sometimes hard won. Sophia Jex-Blake and the Edinburgh seven have been spoken about already, and their influence was profound. In 1869, they became the first women to matriculate at a British university, facing hostility, a notorious riot and, wrongly, exclusion from qualification for degrees. Their struggle catalysed change and opened the path for women to equality and to the practice of medicine in Scotland, which had a catalytic effect elsewhere.

The school’s wider scholarly reach has shaped science far beyond the wards, from Charles Darwin’s formative student years to the generations of clinicians and scientists who went on to lead in public health, surgery, pharmacology and beyond. When I previously served as the Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development, I saw how the school is helping to make an impact way beyond Scotland’s borders and our shores.

Today, that tradition is alive in a modern, globally orientated medical school. Edinburgh’s six-year bachelor of medicine and surgery programme—the only programme of its kind in Scotland—integrates a full research year and graduates doctors with the degrees of bachelor of medical sciences and bachelor of medicine and surgery. It embeds clinical experience from the early years across Lothian and the south of Scotland.

Together, as we celebrate this remarkable anniversary, it is also a chance to reflect on the opportunities ahead. Edinburgh medical school is setting out an ambitious future. Through its emerging future medicine programme and plans for a new Scottish health and biomedical institute, the school aims to bring together world-leading research, clinical expertise and innovation to tackle chronic disease. It also aims to strengthen cancer research and attract global talent and investment.

That work sits within the college’s wider one health vision, which recognises that human, animal and planetary wellbeing are deeply connected and reflects the determination not just to honour 300 years of history but to shape the next century of medical discovery and education in Scotland and beyond.

Sarah Boyack understandably raised the issue of financial pressures in the higher education sector. The Government is aware of those pressures and is being proactive in trying to work with our universities in relation to that challenge. That is why we have set up the framework for sustainability and success with our university sector.

In that context, it is important to recognise that the Scottish Government has been proud to support the momentum of our medical colleges and resource them. There has been a 67 per cent increase in medical undergraduate intake places since 2016, and there is a commitment to widening access to study for a career in medicine.

In 2018, the first cohort of students began the HCP-Med programme at the University of Edinburgh. That is an innovative graduate entry course that provides the opportunity to existing healthcare professionals from Scotland to achieve a medical degree. That is the sort of upskilling that we will need to do more of as we move forward into this challenging century.

We have a world-leading higher education sector to be proud of, and the Scottish Government values greatly the contribution that medical schools make to our society. They deliver first-rate doctors to support the NHS and so much more, including the economic impact that other members have talked about. We continue to recognise and value the world-leading teaching, research, innovation and knowledge exchange that are delivered through our universities and the high esteem in which they are rightly held internationally because of their legacy and because of what they do now.

On behalf of the Scottish Government, I offer congratulations to everyone involved—to the staff, students, alumni and partners who have shaped three centuries of medicine in Edinburgh, to those whose names are celebrated and to the many more whose quiet work in clinics, labs, classrooms and hospitals saves and improves lives every day. I thank them for all that they have done to build the legacy of the University of Edinburgh medical school, for all that has gone into preparing and undertaking the celebrations this year and for everything that will be done in the future to ensure that the school keeps making a profound impact in Scotland and internationally.