Hansard

I welcome today's debate and the publication of the draft sexual health strategy, which is an important milestone. Like other members, I welcome the strategy's holistic approach and its emphasis on relationships, values, culture and education, as well as on services. However, the strength of that all-embracing approach could also be the weakness of the document. There is a danger that the strategy could try to be all things to all people. The Executive must address that issue when it issues its response. There is even—dare I say it—a danger of the strategy lapsing into somewhat impenetrable technospeak.

I say to members, to people outside the chamber and to members of the press who may regard this as a fringe debate about political correctness that we must remember the human realities that lie at the heart of the issue; we must remember that the issue affects each and every family and community in the country. The debate is about teenagers who are grappling with dilemmas in their relationships and are bombarded with sexual imagery on television, through music and the internet and in the soaps. It is about parents who are concerned about the well-being of their youngsters and are struggling to know how best to talk to, advise and protect them. It is about young and not-so-young women who have unintentionally fallen pregnant and are torn in deciding whether to have a termination.

As has been said, the debate is also about couples who are desperately trying to have a baby and are worried about whether either of them might be infertile. It is about the person whose only reminder of their holiday romance is a pretty nasty discharge and sleepless nights worrying about whether that discharge is only uncomfortable and embarrassing or whether it is life threatening. It is about the woman waking up the morning after the night before, when she had a few drinks too many and a fling that went too far, terrified that she might have caught an infection or be pregnant. It is about young people starting to come to terms with the fact that they are attracted to members of the same sex rather than the opposite sex and, as a result of that attraction, get beaten up in the playground and abused. It is about teachers wanting to know how best to handle such situations and what to say to their pupils.

The debate is also about the many people who live with the physical and emotional consequences of coercion. It is about the child who knows that their uncle's advances and his little secret are not right, but does not know to whom to turn and is frightened of saying anything. It is about the woman who is already emotionally and physically bruised by rape and discovers that she is pregnant or HIV positive.

Such things are not only part of the storylines of soap operas; I am talking about the real life stories of Scots in our communities and about events that happen every day, week and year. Those people are at the heart of the debate.

I welcome the minister's continued commitment to the publication of a national sexual health strategy and the tone of his comments today. However, we need to see the muscle and the money that are needed for the implementation of the strategy. The litmus test is whether the Executive will back the implementation of the strategy with additional resources.

I know, probably better than most in the chamber, that people in every area of health want more money and that it is impossible to respond to every demand. However, I truly believe that if the strategy is not backed by extra money, it will simply not come into effect. There are too many more powerful and vocal demands and too many issues that are easier to discuss and act on.

I have said this before in the chamber, but it bears repetition: we must remember that there will never be a powerful patient lobby for sexual health. Not many people will write to their MSPs to complain about the fact that they have had to wait for months to get their genital warts seen to. We should make no mistake: the subject will never be a mailbag issue. However, it is vital that we do not respond only to those who shout loudest. We must realise that the issue is not just about the priority of sexual health in relation to other health issues, but about determining the priorities and actions within the parameters of sexual health policy itself. The statistics tell their own story, even if the people behind the numbers choose, for good reasons, not to do so.

The time for analysis is over and the time for action is now. We know what needs to happen, but it needs to be made to happen. We should spend no more time on consultation, analysis and wheel reinvention, but consider, for example, the ground-breaking work that the healthy respect project has done with young people, including on chlamydia testing, and the picture that it has developed in consultation with young people about what they want from sexual health services. That work does not need to be reinvented across 14 health board areas.

We should look again at the McCabe report, which has been mentioned. It was published more than three years ago, but too many of its recommendations have still not been implemented. We should consider another commitment that is more than three years old—the commitment to expand and develop the role of school nurses in the sexual health area. We are not even beginning to exploit the full potential that exists. Let us also look at our genito-urinary medicine clinics, which demonstrate good practice but are creaking at the seams under the current demand for their services. Let us consider our voluntary sector services, which are excellent in some communities and non-existent in others.

We know what works and we know what can and should happen. The strategy must be driven forward. I would like ministers to show the energy and enthusiasm on the issue that they have shown on so many other aspects of health policy. We need urgency and momentum behind the strategy and we need clear plans, timetables and action.

The improvement of sexual health is one of the biggest challenges that we face, but it is also one of the biggest opportunities. With the will, the leadership and the investment, real change can happen. If all those things come together, the Parliament and ministers will earn the healthy respect of certainly a vast majority of the Scottish population.