Chamber
Plenary, 09 May 2002
09 May 2002 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Nurses
The delivery of health services for patients requires a combination of sustained investment and reform—investment in staff, equipment, facilities and new treatments, and reform of ways of working and service organisation in collaboration with patients and front-line staff. Often, in recent weeks, I have seen and read commentators suggest that investing in capacity and investing in reform are two alternative strategies for improving the national health service. Investing in staff has even been portrayed as investing in a bottomless pit that would leave few resources over for reform. That is nonsense. At the heart of that nonsense is a real misunderstanding of what we mean by reform in the NHS. I shall say more about that in next week's debate.
Investing in staff is central to investing in reform. Front-line staff know their patients best; they know what their patients want and how they could make changes to improve their patients' experience. The key to reform is allowing them to do that. By "them", I refer to the whole health care team, and I thank and pay tribute to the invaluable contribution of every member of that team.
However, this is international nurses week. Nurses and midwives are central to the delivery and reform of both health care and health improvement. The central message to nurses from today's debate is, "We value you and we will seek to value you more and more in the weeks and months to come." There is no doubt that we need many more nurses in the NHS. Since 1997, there has been a rising trend in the number of qualifying nurses. I hope that that trend will continue when new national work force statistics are announced tomorrow. However, we must step up our efforts and ensure that we listen and respond to the needs of the thousands of nurses already working within the NHS.
That is why it has been so important to me to meet hundreds of nurses at the national convention that we held last November and at the six local conventions that we have held throughout Scotland during the past two months. That is why it is so important to me to continue to talk to nurses throughout Scotland. In the past few weeks, I have met emergency nurse practitioners in Aberdeen; nurse endoscopists in Ayr; infection control nurses in the Borders; sexual health nurses in Edinburgh; nurses working with the homeless in Perth; and nurses on medical wards, surgical wards and in primary care throughout Scotland.
Tomorrow, in Inverness, I will have the privilege of joining others to celebrate the success of Scotland's first 11 family health nurses. That is an example of partnership at an international level, as the World Health Organisation is helping to test the delivery of a new model of care, which incorporates disease prevention and health promotion as well as caring for those who are ill. That offers exciting potential for the development of community health services in Scotland.
Following the national nursing convention in November, we drew up an action plan called facing the future, which is based entirely on views that were expressed at the convention. We established a strong national implementation group, called partnership in action, which I am honoured to chair. At the November convention, we announced £1.5 million for recruitment and retention initiatives. That was increased to £5 million at the first local convention in Glasgow at the end of February. At the Glasgow convention, I also announced the immediate funding of six return-to-practice schemes, which will enable 150 nurses to return to work in NHS Scotland. The funding will cover costs, expenses and child care; 60 of those nurse returners are already in place.
We are aware of the need to repair the damage that was done by previous short-sighted decisions to cut student nurse intakes; those are the life-blood of future supply. We have driven up student intakes; 10,000 more nurses will qualify in Scotland by 2005, which is 1,500 more than previously planned. As part of the facing the future initiative, I have increased intakes yet further. There will be another 250 extra students in this academic year. We have increased student bursaries by 10.4 per cent and there will be a further increase later this year.
Investing in staff is central to investing in reform. Front-line staff know their patients best; they know what their patients want and how they could make changes to improve their patients' experience. The key to reform is allowing them to do that. By "them", I refer to the whole health care team, and I thank and pay tribute to the invaluable contribution of every member of that team.
However, this is international nurses week. Nurses and midwives are central to the delivery and reform of both health care and health improvement. The central message to nurses from today's debate is, "We value you and we will seek to value you more and more in the weeks and months to come." There is no doubt that we need many more nurses in the NHS. Since 1997, there has been a rising trend in the number of qualifying nurses. I hope that that trend will continue when new national work force statistics are announced tomorrow. However, we must step up our efforts and ensure that we listen and respond to the needs of the thousands of nurses already working within the NHS.
That is why it has been so important to me to meet hundreds of nurses at the national convention that we held last November and at the six local conventions that we have held throughout Scotland during the past two months. That is why it is so important to me to continue to talk to nurses throughout Scotland. In the past few weeks, I have met emergency nurse practitioners in Aberdeen; nurse endoscopists in Ayr; infection control nurses in the Borders; sexual health nurses in Edinburgh; nurses working with the homeless in Perth; and nurses on medical wards, surgical wards and in primary care throughout Scotland.
Tomorrow, in Inverness, I will have the privilege of joining others to celebrate the success of Scotland's first 11 family health nurses. That is an example of partnership at an international level, as the World Health Organisation is helping to test the delivery of a new model of care, which incorporates disease prevention and health promotion as well as caring for those who are ill. That offers exciting potential for the development of community health services in Scotland.
Following the national nursing convention in November, we drew up an action plan called facing the future, which is based entirely on views that were expressed at the convention. We established a strong national implementation group, called partnership in action, which I am honoured to chair. At the November convention, we announced £1.5 million for recruitment and retention initiatives. That was increased to £5 million at the first local convention in Glasgow at the end of February. At the Glasgow convention, I also announced the immediate funding of six return-to-practice schemes, which will enable 150 nurses to return to work in NHS Scotland. The funding will cover costs, expenses and child care; 60 of those nurse returners are already in place.
We are aware of the need to repair the damage that was done by previous short-sighted decisions to cut student nurse intakes; those are the life-blood of future supply. We have driven up student intakes; 10,000 more nurses will qualify in Scotland by 2005, which is 1,500 more than previously planned. As part of the facing the future initiative, I have increased intakes yet further. There will be another 250 extra students in this academic year. We have increased student bursaries by 10.4 per cent and there will be a further increase later this year.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S1M-3078, in the name of Malcolm Chisholm, on action to recruit, retain and value nurses, and two amendments ...
The Minister for Health and Community Care (Malcolm Chisholm):
Lab
The delivery of health services for patients requires a combination of sustained investment and reform—investment in staff, equipment, facilities and new tre...
Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP):
SSP
Will Malcolm Chisholm give way?
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
In a moment. I need to make more progress first.We want all those who qualify to secure employment within NHS Scotland, if they wish to do so. We have theref...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
My question relates specifically to nurses' bursaries. Given his experience of speaking at various conferences, the minister will surely accept that the bigg...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
There will be a further increase in bursaries this year. I am aware of the issue that Tommy Sheridan raises, and I am sure that it will come up at the specia...
Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister give way?
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
Time will not allow me to take an intervention. I have only one and a half minutes left.Flexibility is another key issue that has been raised at nursing conv...
Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
I thank nurses, midwives and health visitors for the enormous contribution that they make to patient care and the national health service. I also pay tribute...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
Another week, another health debate, and this week another health minister, too. I welcome this debate on recruiting, retaining and valuing nurses, given tha...
Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
I am pleased to speak in the debate to acknowledge the work that Scotland's nurses do in international nurses week and throughout the year, and to highlight ...
Brian Adam:
SNP
Will Margaret Smith give way?
Mrs Smith:
LD
I will not give way. I have no time. I have only five minutes.
Brian Adam:
SNP
There will be no debate if she does not give way.
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
SNP
Order.
Mrs Smith:
LD
In areas in which the Scottish Executive has the power to make a positive difference to conditions, it has been listening to the RCN's campaign and has made ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
We now come to the open debate. We are obviously tight for time, but I will allow speeches of four minutes with some extra time for interventions.
Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab):
Lab
I agree with other members that it is highly appropriate for us to hold this debate during international nurses week. Since 1997, Labour has delivered 20,000...
Nicola Sturgeon:
SNP
Will Sarah Boyack give way?
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
No, thank you, Ms Sturgeon. Those concerns are a legacy of what the Tories did to the health service. The recent pronouncements of Liam Fox show the Tories' ...
Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con):
Con
Will the member take an intervention?
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I will take a brief intervention.
Ben Wallace:
Con
How does Ms Boyack reconcile her fine words and the fine words of the Scottish Executive with the fact that the chancellor will take £5.8 million out of the ...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
I have not met any nurse who is unhappy about the massive increase that everyone recognises is going into the NHS. We need to talk up the fact that the money...
Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
Nurses now take on greater roles and greater responsibilities than ever before, but the average age of nurses is increasing. The average age in Scotland is n...
Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
The contribution that our nurses make to our health care system is phenomenal. They are the backbone of the NHS and without them the NHS would crumble. There...
Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab):
Lab
Jamie McGrigor's contribution—or perhaps what was omitted from it—speaks volumes about the lack of consensus in Scotland on sustained and rising investment i...
Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Members of all parties have produced statistics on a variety of issues, such as the number of nurses who leave the profession, the number of nursing students...
Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD):
LD
I will concentrate on two points—job satisfaction and prisons. Three things make a job worth having and attract people to it: pay and conditions; the public ...
Janis Hughes (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab):
Lab
I declare an interest as a member of Unison. As a nurse, I am delighted to speak in today's debate. During my years in the health service, I considered mysel...