Sandesh Gulhane
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party · Scotland
“It has been a privilege to be here in the Scottish Parliament for the past five years. I came into politics to stand up for patients and our hard- working national health service staff, who do extraordinary work in the face of immense pressure, and I am proud to declare that I am a practising NHS general practitioner.”
“Neil Gray: I do not think that we can—and nor should we—seek to draw a correlation between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde officials and the SNP. I do not know the politics of the leadership of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and we should be careful to draw a distinction in that regard.”
“On Skye House, the Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing gave a statement to Parliament just days ago setting out the Government’s actions and how we are seeking to respond, working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to ensure that improvements are made.”
“I say that as someone who shares some of those internal tensions—as a practising Hindu, I wrestle with the philosophical, ethical and spiritual aspects of my faith when I consider legislation such as this. These are not abstract ideas to me; they are part of my own moral framework. However, this Parliament is not a theocracy.”
“Jenni Minto: I am grateful to Dr Gulhane for his comments. The healthcare exception exists to ensure that the bill will not regulate procedures that are provided by regulated healthcare professionals for a healthcare purpose— specifically, for the purpose of preventing, diagnosing or treating illness.”
“I want to be clear that many practitioners who work in the sector take their responsibilities extremely seriously. They operate from clean, sterile environments, follow proper consent procedures and understand how to recognise complications. I have every sympathy with those practitioners.”
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“That is not to suggest that only cell therapy patients need mental health support; major illnesses and subsequent treatment in hospital are seriously traumatic for people and can often significantly change patients’ lives. However, cell therapies are distinctive in their intensity, duration and complexity, and therefore require a more proactive, embedded and co-ordinated physiological approach. Recognising the mental health impact of cell therapies is about not exceptionalism but the delivery of holistic, realistic and compassionate care.”
“Families, too, experience sustained emotional strain. They are often excluded from day-to-day care during prolonged admissions, yet are expected to provide complex support once patients return home. As a GP, I frequently see carers in distress, struggling with anxiety, exhaustion and a lack of clear post-treatment guidance. Crucially, the mental health impact does not end at hospital discharge. Survivorship following cell therapy can involve long-term cognitive impairment, fatigue, fear of relapse and difficulties in reintegrating into work and family life. In NHS Scotland, much of that on-going care falls to primary care, often without formal psychological follow-up or clear shared-care pathways.”
“Cell therapy is not a single event; it is an extended, high-intensity treatment pathway, and patients often endure prolonged uncertainty before treatment, followed by aggressive conditioning, significant physical toxicity and long periods of in-patient isolation within specialist centres. In Scotland, it frequently means travelling far from home, disrupting family life, employment and social support networks. From a clinical perspective, cell therapies carry a unique physiological burden. Parents face high- stakes uncertainty. The treatment may offer a cure but it also carries a real risk of severe complications or mortality. Neurocognitive effects, delirium, mood disturbance and post-treatment psychological sequelae are well recognised as both reactions to illness and a direct consequence of treatment-related inflammation and medication.”
“I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. As a doctor for over 20 years, I have seen that physical illness and mental health are inseparable. Across NHS Scotland, we recognise that patients undergoing major surgery or systemic chemotherapy, or living with chronic and life- limiting conditions, commonly experience anxiety, depression and trauma-related distress. That is well evidenced in our national code of guidance, and it is reflected in routine primary care practice. However, cell therapies such as stem cell transplant and CAR-T present a particularly profound mental health challenge, and one that our current systems are not yet consistently designed to meet.”
“In terms of what we knew as a Government and when, the evidence before the inquiry clearly shows that the Scottish Government was made aware of a water contamination issue at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital only in March 2018. That is a matter of record from the public inquiry. [Interruption.] With regard to the current situation, I have set out my confidence in the safety of the hospital. I also sent in Healthcare Improvement Scotland to carry out an inspection to look at the whole hospital and its systems. I set that out in detail in my statement in March of last year. However, I recognise the need to provide greater confidence to colleagues here, as well as to patients, families and the wider public. That is why we have established the oversight group with NHS Greater Glasgow and”
“The families, to whom I pay tribute, must get the answers that they are seeking, and that will come through the public inquiry that this Government commissioned being allowed to conclude its work and report. I am confident that Lord Brodie will do that, and I ask that he is given the space to do that. As I set out in my statement, those families will also be involved in the oversight group, the independence of which is confirmed by the co- chairing of Sir Lewis Ritchie, whose reputation everybody will be aware of. The group will also report to Government. There is also new leadership in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, who—as I said in my statement—I have full confidence in, in relation to their responding to the issues of culture that need to be responded to.”
“Every day brings new and horrific revelations that ministers cannot run away from. As Nicola Sturgeon’s career was rising, standards at the Queen Elizabeth hospital were falling. She was health minister during construction and First Minister during the scandal. Will the cabinet secretary ask the former First Minister to make a personal statement on what happened on her watch? Finally, in 2015, Shona Robison categorically promised this Parliament that an independent safety audit would be completed before the hospital opened. That, I believe, never happened, with catastrophic results. Has an independent safety audit throughout the hospital finally been implemented—yes or no? Neil Gray: Dr Gulhane raises a number of points. First, I reiterate that patients must be at the heart of the process.”
“Fourteen red and amber alerts were issued about serious infection outbreaks at the Queen Elizabeth hospital between 2015 and 2018, and the former Scottish National Party health secretary Alex Neil said that he was informed about alerts when he was in office between 2012 and 2014, yet Neil Gray has just told us that the Government did not know about the infections until 2018. When Alex Neil said that ministers were told but went on to do nothing, he was right, was he not? He said: “At best, it is negligence, at worst it is a criminal conspiracy – either one caused death and avoidable suffering.” NHS infection expert Annette Rankin said that SNP health secretaries had been uninterested in the infection outbreak alerts. Why did successive SNP cabinet secretaries ignore those alerts?”
“I declare an interest as a practising national health service general practitioner. This is about the deaths of cancer victims as young as 10, whose families were lied to, gaslit and made to wait for more than a decade for the truth to be forced out in the most sleekit way possible. Rightly, the people of Scotland feel disgusted by the callous nature of the cover-up. The very board that threatened and silenced whistleblowers is now being put in charge of the so-called oversight group. Basically, the cabinet secretary is asking an arsonist to investigate why the house burned down. That is exactly how to silence whistleblowers and intimidate them from coming forward.”
“Answer the question. Shona Robison: I wait in anticipation for Jamie Halcro Johnston to come forward with that proposal.”
“I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. I have been told that no body currently holds end-to-end responsibility for practice-level governance of mixed NHS and private dental practices and that responsibility for addressing the issue sits with the Scottish Government. The lack of responsibility placed on any body raises clear concerns about patient safety and clinical accountability. That is particularly important in rural areas, where there are dental deserts, with a complete lack of choice. What is the minister doing to ensure that all mixed dental practices are appropriately regulated? Jenni Minto: I recognise that specific issue and I have asked my officials to look into it.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s admission of a likely link between issues with the water supply at Queen Elizabeth university hospital and patient infections. (S6T-02845)”
“To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect young people from grooming gangs and sexual exploitation. (S6O-05351)”
“The First Minister: The Government has in place a range of measures to tackle those issues. Guidance is in place that requires robust checking before any body is released from a hospital mortuary to an undertaker. We also have the inspector of burial, cremation and funeral directors, who is appointed by Scottish ministers, and along with that we have a statutory funeral director code of practice that regulates many of those issues. I assure Dr Gulhane that arrangements are in place to ensure that the highest standards are applied and that accuracy is implicit in all of the actions that are taken forward. I give Parliament the commitment that where we can publish information on that, we will. The Presiding Officer: We move to constituency and general supplementary questions. Concise questions and responses will enable more opportunities.”
“I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. A few weeks ago, the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow released the wrong body, which was cremated, denying two families a goodbye, but this is not an isolated incident. The body of 56-year-old William Paterson was released to the wrong funeral director. A mum was left in a mortuary for six weeks, with staff telling the family that she had been forgotten. Ninety-six- year-old Agnes Lane’s remains were released to the wrong funeral firm. At a time when families should be grieving, mistakes such as those are unacceptable. They cause significant distress. With that catalogue of significant never events, what steps are being taken to hold senior management to account? They always seem to escape scot free.”
“To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the talks with British Medical Association representatives regarding the planned resident doctors strike due to begin next week. (S6T-02820)”
“The Deputy Presiding Officer: We will need greater brevity in questions. Tom Arthur: I thank Dr Gulhane for his question and for raising those important matters. We actively engage with SAMH. I had the privilege of visiting the nook in Glasgow a few weeks ago and I was hugely impressed. We want to see more interventions of that type in Scotland, as they play a vital role. I commend SAMH and the many other organisations that provide vital support, not just at this time of year but all year round.”
“I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. For many people, Christmas is a time to enjoy precious moments with family and friends and reflect on the past year. However, for too many Scots, Christmas is a period of social isolation and loneliness, which are issues that I know all of us in the chamber care about deeply and want to address. We have fantastic organisations across Glasgow and the rest of Scotland that provide vital support, such as Scottish Action for Mental Health’s nook and the Samaritans, which I encourage anyone who is struggling with low mood to reach out to. However, those organisations require adequate financial support to deliver their essential services. Will the Government discuss with SAMH the possibility of expanding the work that it does through its nook by providing Government funding?”
“What has been done since the minister appeared before the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on 28 October? Has he met members of health boards to ensure that data is collected appropriately? Is reliable data now being collected? What steps have been taken to ensure transparency? Scotland needs a multisystem, society-wide response. We cannot simply expand broken structures. We need coherent pathways from diagnosis to treatment to long-term support, and we need those now. The royal college has done its job; it is time for the Scottish Government to do its job. 13:07”
“Without a clear pathway, people will fall through the cracks, and the situation is placing intolerable pressure on an already overstretched mental health system. We know about the consequences of that. We heard Daniel Johnson talk about worse educational outcomes, higher rates of unemployment and the significant overrepresentation of individuals with autism and ADHD in the criminal justice system. Untreated ADHD increases the risk of substance misuse. Untreated autism increases the risk of anxiety, depression and suicide. Early diagnosis is not optional; it is life changing and life saving. The minister has called for a round table on 15 December. I will be honest and say that I am sceptical about that. We have had countless round tables and warm words, but we rarely see action, so I would like to ask a few questions.”
“NHS Lanarkshire provided data that was two years out of date, and when we phoned the board, we learned that the real waiting time is two years longer than was publicly reported. That is not transparency. Daniel Johnson: Does Sandesh Gulhane agree that it is confusing when health boards say that they cannot report data but they can say how long people are going to wait? They clearly know what people are waiting for, but they are not reporting it. Does that not also confuse the member? Sandesh Gulhane: It absolutely does confuse me. What health boards say to their patients about waiting times and what they publish are completely separate. We have seen that in NHS Lanarkshire. What we are talking about is not transparency but obfuscation, and it is unacceptable. Without access to correct data, how can a service possibly be planned?”
“It is most certainly not fine and, shamefully, the Government knows it because it has conflated data, changed the way in which data is collected and used flawed data to game the system. The royal college’s recommendations are not radical and they are not rocket science. As Daniel Johnson said, access to medication is pretty basic. The recommended actions are the basic building blocks of a functioning system. The Scottish National Party Government should have put in place a clear national pathway with timely diagnosis and treatment and seamless support years ago. Instead, we have chaos. Data collection is fundamentally poor. NHS Grampian cannot separate neurodevelopmental cases from child and adolescent mental health service cases in the data. We cannot even understand the scale of need.”
“The RCP’s report lays out in clear and evidence-based terms what many of us have been warning of for years. Demand has soared. As of March 2025, more than 42,000 children and 23,000 adults were waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment. We are not talking about a marginal increase. Since 2020, children’s waits have risen by more than 500 per cent, and adults’ waits have risen by 2,200 per cent. Those numbers represent lives on hold: children becoming adults and being sent to the back of the queue again; parents in despair; and adults left without clarity, support or hope. However, let us be clear: the scale of the crisis is not simply the result of increased demand; it is also a result of the fact that, for years, the Government has reassured itself that everything is fine.”
“To the minister, I say that we should have the numbers so that we can understand how many people are waiting; we should have clear standardised approaches; and we must have a plan to clear the backlog, because, behind it, tens of thousands of people are in crisis. 12:59”
“Will the member give way? Daniel Johnson: I am very happy to give way to Sandesh Gulhane, but he will have to be brief. Sandesh Gulhane: I declare an interest as a practising NHS GP. I would just note that, when someone gets a private diagnosis, it is no longer shared care, as they will no longer be seeing that private consultant. What we really need is for the diagnosis to be transferred into the NHS for shared care to happen. Daniel Johnson: I do accept that, and that view is adopted in the standardised approach. It is shared care if the person continues to see the private practitioner, but the NHS GP does the prescribing. However, we do need standardisation, pragmatism and, above all else, clarity.”
“Let us improve access to primary care, ensuring that mental health pathways are delivered on time and that persistent problems in social care are tackled, so that hospitals are not the default of our older veterans. Our amendment is a practical example of that approach. The armed forces kept their promise to us, so it is time that we kept our promise to them. 17:10”
“Social care is another critical part of the covenant, and the level of delayed discharge remains far too high. We must remember that veterans include older veterans who are stuck on the wards, unable to go home. We can and must do better by them. The Royal British Legion and Poppyscotland’s “Keep the Covenant Promise” campaign reminds us how far we still have to go, highlights the gaps in the covenant duty in areas such as social care, early years support and further and higher education, and calls for the duty to be delivered consistently, properly funded and robustly measured across the UK. We support the motion, but we say to ministers and other colleagues across the chamber that we should work together to make the covenant real.”
“Sandesh Gulhane: I was going to intervene on the minister on that. It is a question of making sure that general practitioners have the time to do that. There are a lot of things that we would love to learn and do, but we simply do not have the time, because we are firefighting all the time. On mental health, the Government is keen to point to the forthcoming veterans mental health and wellbeing pathway. I welcome that work, but colleagues will understand the frustration that, in 2025, we are still talking about the phased launch of a pathway rather than veterans already receiving care through it. There are still too many who are bounced between services, who have to retell their story and fight for assessment and support that should be proactively offered.”
“If we are serious about the armed forces covenant, the fundamentals of health and social care in Scotland must work for veterans and their families in practice, not just in principle. Let us look at access to primary care. Scotland simply does not have enough GPs. We have many more registered patients than we had a decade ago, but the number of practices has fallen. Veterans who are trying to register with a practice or to get timely appointments for physical or mental health concerns are often competing in an overstretched system that is already under real pressure. Paul Sweeney: The member might have noted that the commissioner said that she was disappointed by the slow uptake of the general practice armed forces and veterans recognition scheme. As a practising NHS GP, does he have any personal insights on what might improve uptake?”
“It should be recognised that many charities and third sector organisations, not least Poppyscotland and Legion Scotland, do outstanding work, often stepping in where the state has struggled to keep up. In Glasgow, I have engaged directly with Community Veterans Support and the armed forces charity SSAFA, which are both based in Govan. They are clear that veterans still need more practical help, guidance and support when it comes to healthcare, social services and housing. Community Veterans Support emphasises the importance of stronger social support to tackle isolation and help people to build a new life in civilian society. Its experience on the ground should shape our policy. My experience as a GP, and what veterans tell us, is that, while the strategy is welcome, delivery is what really matters.”
“I declare an interest: I am a practising NHS GP. I also speak today as a Glasgow MSP who represents a city with a proud service history, with Royal Navy ships built on the Clyde and high-tech military equipment still produced at Thales, and it is home to many veterans and their families. I begin by putting on the record my deep gratitude to our veterans, serving personnel and their loved ones. We welcome the work that has gone into the veterans strategy action plan, the Scottish veterans fund and the Scottish Veterans Commissioner’s progress report. At the outset, I stress that the majority of veterans go on to live quite normal lives and require little or no help, but some require help.”
“I move amendment S6M-19977.2, to leave out from “, and calls” to end and insert: “; recognises the significant impact that delays to social care packages and inadequate community-based social care provision have on the NHS, including longer avoidable stays in hospital; condemns the waste of £30 million for developing the now abandoned plans for a National Care Service; urges the Scottish Government to address record levels of delayed discharge and rising waiting times for social care assessments, and calls on the Scottish Ministers to close the funding gaps faced by health and social care partnerships by ensuring councils are appropriately funded, establish a proper workforce plan for social care to improve recruitment and retention of staff, and make sure that the value of Scotland’s care workforce is properly recognised.” 15:12”
“Scotland does not need more excuses or more constitutional diversions; it needs competence, honesty and a Government that is willing to fix the system that it has allowed to deteriorate before our very eyes.”
“Every delay that is backed up into accident and emergency or cancelled operations grinds staff into the ground. Let us not forget the human cost beyond the NHS. There are 627,000 unpaid carers, nearly half of whom are cutting back on food and heating, and a third of whom have been driven into debt, with only 13 per cent receiving a break. If that does not sound the alarm bells, I genuinely do not know what will spark ministers’ action. We must close the funding gaps in health and social care partnerships, properly fund councils, establish a real workforce plan and finally recognise the workforce’s value—not with press releases but with pay, training and respect.”
“We have had a workforce crisis since 2015 because the workforce has shrunk. The number of nursing staff in care homes has fallen by 28 per cent in a decade and providers are relying on financial reserves just to stay afloat— none of that was caused by a visa rule change. What was caused by this SNP Government was the waste of £30 million on the now-abandoned national care service—money that could have employed 1,200 care workers or delivered 1 million hours of care, all squandered. When that collapsed, what did we get? Another talking shop that was boycotted by trade unions and that cost thousands more. That is not reform; it is panic and drift. Meanwhile, delayed discharge has become the norm. In October alone, nearly 2,000 people were trapped in hospital despite being medically fit to go home. More than 61,000 bed days were lost.”
“I had also hoped that there might have been consensus on the point in the amendment around the need for the UK Government to scrap the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, which are costing our social care providers £84 million. Sandesh Gulhane: It is very clear that the Labour budget was damaging to our social care sector and our charities, but we cannot get away from the fact that the SNP has had 18 years in which it could have funded councils appropriately and done the right thing by social care. The SNP seems to be a legend in its own mind. This Government wants to tell us that the crisis is all caused by UK migration policy. Let me be clear: international carers make an invaluable contribution, but the idea that Scotland’s social care crisis began this year or last year is simply delusional.”
“That is exactly what Neil Gray’s amendment is—another exercise in SNP exceptionalism and an attempt to airbrush out 18 years of failure by blaming anyone and everyone else. It is, to be frank, extraordinary. At a time when delayed discharge is at record levels, when one in five care homes has closed and when thousands wait months for assessments, we are presented with an amendment that is so self-congratulatory it reads like the greatest hits album of an SNP campfire song. Neil Gray: I recognise that there will be differences in viewpoint on the issue between us and the Conservatives, but I hope that you can see quite clearly that I have set out in my amendment the need to work more with local government and our care providers. It is acknowledged and it is our responsibility to do so.”
“I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. Scotland’s social care system is in crisis—not by accident but because this SNP Government has failed to prioritise it year after year. When a range of organisations as broad as Scottish Care, Age Scotland, Alzheimer Scotland, COSLA, the Accounts Commission and the Scottish Fiscal Commission all use the same language— "breaking point”, “unsustainable”, “a perfect storm”—it should shake the Government out of its complacency, but alas, no. Instead, ministers behave as though acknowledging reality would somehow be disloyal to their own mythology, created in their ivory towers, surrounded by quangos telling them how great they are.”
“From my discussions with the likes of the Commonwealth Sport president, Donald Rukare, I am confident that, regardless of whether the work at George Square has been completed, given the facilities that people have seen and the engagement with the organising company—it, not the federation, is responsible for the delivery of the games—they are confident of Glasgow’s success, including its onward success in relation to the Commonwealth games to come. I promised Donald Rukare that, by the summer, the weather would be better than it was last week, when he arrived, but, unfortunately, I do not have complete control over that.”
“At the Commonwealth Sport general assembly event that I held last week, Maree Todd and I were approached by a number of delegates who told us that there had been no plan B—no other alternative—so, if Glasgow had not stepped in, there would have been no Commonwealth games. We must recognise and celebrate that. We should also recognise the work that is being done by Glasgow City Council. The work at George Square has been some years in planning, and it is for the council to work through delivery in that regard.”
“Will the Scottish Government commit to ensuring that George Square will be open by providing the required resources? Does the cabinet secretary agree that the only traffic cone that spectators should see should be the one on the Duke of Wellington’s head? Neil Gray: No—because there is also a cone on the head of Finnie, the mascot, who is on the badge that I am proudly wearing. I will answer Sandesh Gulhane’s points, because they are serious ones, but I hope that, as a Parliament, we can also get into the spirit of what we are seeking to achieve next summer in Scotland. There will be the football world cup, which Scotland’s men’s team has just qualified for, and the Commonwealth games will come to Scotland. The games were literally saved by Glasgow stepping in in the way that only Scotland could.”
“Business leaders are telling me that Glasgow City Council is woefully underprepared and has not progressed work as expected. Our city centre is choked with roadworks, making it virtually impossible to get in and out of the city centre, and there is rubbish everywhere, with rats that are big enough to compete at the games. The cabinet secretary said that £150,000 will be given to run Scotland house, which will be located in the Corinthian. For those who do not know Glasgow, that is about 50 yards away from the iconic George Square, which is currently closed for construction work. The greatest example of farce by Glasgow City Council is that it will not accelerate the works in order for George Square to be open for the games. That would literally involve accelerating the programme by a few weeks.”
“As a proud Glaswegian, I look forward to welcoming all the world-class athletes who will be competing in the games and all the visitors. Furthermore, I would like to welcome the sun, which will, no doubt, be shining for the full 11 days of the Commonwealth games. I have no doubt that the international athletes will have a seamless experience in the pool and on the track, because the Commonwealth Games Federation will be organising that. My concern is about everything that Glasgow City Council, which is led by the Scottish National Party, is in charge of. [Interruption.] Volunteers, spectators and the local community all need to have the same seamless experience of our great city. Clearly, SNP members do not agree with that.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made regarding the number of households whose council tax bills could rise as a result of the proposals in its consultation on the future of council tax. (S6O-05109)”
“Even the SNP’s former health secretary, Jeane Freeman, has now admitted that the current crisis in the Scottish NHS is the result of failures of successive SNP Governments— including her own. She said that politicians focus on what needs to be done to “remain in power, as opposed to what needs to be done to fix” the NHS. Those words are not ours—they are hers.”
“Morale among staff is at breaking point and now, instead of fixing the workforce crisis, ministers are redesigning services around their failure to recruit and retain. That is not reform; it is retreat and it is surrender. That is why the Scottish Conservatives are calling on the Government to pause all downgrades of maternity and neonatal services until a full, independent task force has reported and its recommendations are known to the Parliament. No irreversible decisions should be made until we understand the consequences for safety, workforce and access, because once a local neonatal unit loses its intensive care status, it almost never comes back. Centralisation may look tidy on a ministerial briefing paper, but it is mothers, babies and exhausted NHS staff who will live with the consequences.”
“Centralisation on that scale forces families in rural areas to travel hundreds of miles at the most frightening time in their lives. It separates mothers from newborns and tears parents away from their support networks. That is not progress; it is the abdication of responsibility. We are told that the change is based on strong clinical advice, but I fear that the centralisation is being driven by workforce failure, not clinical excellence. The SNP Government cannot staff its existing services, which is why units are being downgraded. It is not because clinicians want it but because they are being forced to accept it. Let us be honest: SNP workforce planning is abysmal. We train talented midwives in Scotland, only for many of them to be unable to find jobs. Some are crossing the border to work in England because posts are not available.”
“The Royal College of Midwives has called for urgent action after the recent BBC investigation laid bare serious failings. Those are not isolated incidents; they are symptoms of a system that is under pressure and a tired Government that has lost control and run out of ideas. When clinicians sound the alarm, the Government must listen. Instead, the SNP Administration ploughs on with controversial plans to downgrade maternity hospitals against the clear wishes of local communities and staff. Across Scotland, families and campaigners are rightly concerned. In Wishaw, an award-winning neonatal unit faces being downgraded. In Dundee, more than 17,000 people have signed a petition to save the neonatal unit at Ninewells. In Kirkcaldy and Ayrshire, staff and parents share the same fears that vital local services will be stripped away.”
“The debate focuses on one of the most sensitive and vital areas of healthcare: the safety of giving birth and the wellbeing of mothers and babies. The recent inspection report and the harrowing BBC exposé of maternity services are deeply troubling. They show staff shortages, exhausted clinicians and mothers who do not feel safe or heard. From the reactions that we are seeing, it is clear that, across the chamber, we all agree that the current situation is unacceptable. For any Government, that should be a wake-up call. The trouble is that the SNP Government is asleep at the wheel—and has been for years. We fully agree that there must be a national investigation into the design and delivery of maternity services and neonatal services.”
“I thank the cabinet secretary for taking my intervention. I declare an interest as a practising NHS general practitioner. Repeated surveys show that obstetric and gynaecology departments have the highest level of bullying of any specialty. Given that culture comes from the top, is it any wonder that there is a culture of secrecy when significant errors happen? It takes brave women to stand up and speak to shine a light on the problems. Neil Gray: I made it absolutely clear in response to questions from Dr Gulhane’s colleague Stephen Kerr last week about my very clear expectation for the culture in our NHS, which is reinforced by what we found in the report by Healthcare Improvement Scotland regarding NHS Lothian. I have put that on the record. I will not tolerate poor culture, and that has been made clear to NHS board chief executives.”