Brian Whittle
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party · Scotland
“As Jamie Halcro Johnston said, roads, rail networks and ferries—we keep coming back to ferries—are key to keeping those communities where they are and stopping migration away from them. The chamber will welcome the fact that this— eventually—is my last speech in this parliamentary session.”
“Speaking as somebody who got his first mobile phone—a brick of a thing—at the age of 32, I find that quite astonishing. It is important that pupils have the opportunity to put their phones down in school, but also important is what happens outside school.”
“As always, I want to introduce a slightly different approach to the subject and so I will talk about how we should develop health policy. We must start from the position that services should be available to our communities no matter where they are, whether they are urban, rural or on islands.”
“It is interesting that the girls attitudes survey carried out by Girlguiding UK in 2025 found that girls are restricting their online activity in order to protect themselves, with more than a third of respondents reporting that they avoid using certain apps and platforms in order to protect themselves.”
“It is a pleasure to follow Beatrice Wishart, who, as we all know, has been a real champion for her communities in the time that she has spent here.”
“That was an interesting question from Mr Harvie, as the Scottish Greens have spent the majority of this session of Parliament demonising our farmers and food producers.”
The complete record
Every one of 750 lines we hold for Brian Whittle, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 15 of 15.
“Screening for mental health issues is not provided by all health boards. In 2020, Imperial College London found that miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy may trigger long-term post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. Following the publication of that research, the Miscarriage Association gathered online responses, which echoed the research and focused on the serious and long-term impact on mental health. Many people shared personal experiences of the gap between their needs and the services and support that were available. Key issues that were mentioned were not exclusive to Scotland, but if anyone has confided in you about their miscarriage experience, the comments will not be surprising.”
“We need to consider that, because it seems to me that that is an important anchor for the people whom I have met previously. That was one of the first constituency cases that I was involved in, and I have remained in contact with Fraser and his partner ever since. As an outcome of the investigation, they managed to highlight that Crosshouse hospital was 24 neonatal staff short. He and his wife, June, have campaigned and raised money for others who are suffering a similar loss. In my view, they are two very special human beings. Women in Scotland struggle to access mental health support after a miscarriage. Across all health board areas, there does not appear to be a clear process, in every site that provides miscarriage care, for routine assessment or for referral to support services for mental health bereavement or counselling support.”
“When that happens to you, you think that you are the only one going through the trauma. That is why, as the minister said, in such debates, it is so important to get the message out that there is help to be sought. I was therefore glad that the minister mentioned the organisation Sands, which does incredible work, and there are many others that work along those lines. Many members will know of my constituent Fraser Morton, whose partner gave birth to Lucas, who was initially diagnosed as stillborn. As a result of a campaign that included a BBC documentary and an investigation by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, he got that diagnosis changed to death during birth and managed to get his son registered on a birth certificate. Not many people know that many stillborn children do not get the opportunity to have a birth certificate.”
“I remind members that I have a daughter who is a midwife in the Scottish NHS. I am grateful to have the opportunity to open the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. Miscarriage or stillbirth has such a profound and traumatic impact, predominantly and rightly on the mother. However, as the minister has recognised, there is also trauma for those around the mother who support her through that time. I say that because I have been in that situation myself. Even though it was more than 30 years ago, the strength of those emotions took me by surprise when they surfaced, knowing that I was going to give a speech and remembering what my wife had to go through that night. For many, it is a big surprise to learn how many people go through a similar experience. One in four women lose a pregnancy, along with their families and friends.”
“The national mission is important in addressing the issues that people who have a substance dependency face, but the wider work to tackle poverty, which has been the Government’s number 1 priority, is also critically important, because it goes to the heart of the health inequalities that drive some of the issues that we are facing today. Brian Whittle raises an important issue that all of us must consider.”
“Our discussion is mostly about how we treat people who are caught in addiction. Is the Scottish Government looking at the social determinants that have led to Scotland being such an outlier on drug and alcohol deaths? If we cannot identify the problem, how can we address it properly? Why has Scotland been so bad for so long? Neil Gray: Brian Whittle raises a very important point, which has been debated by politicians and public health experts. There is undoubtedly a clear correlation between areas of poverty, social deprivation and deindustrialisation and areas that have high rates of drug-related deaths.”
“As I said a little while ago, and as I gently say again to Mr Whittle and the Conservatives, they cannot come here and call for additional investment and support in colleges specifically in their areas at the same time as they demand £1 billion in tax cuts, which would take money out of the public purse. We cannot square that circle, contrary to what Mr Whittle suggested this morning.”
“The minister knows well that potentially 5,000 new highly skilled engineering jobs could come to the Prestwick cluster through XLCC. One of the deciding factors will be access to a skilled workforce, because XLCC will go elsewhere if that is not available. We have a need and we have the excellent Ayrshire College that can deliver targeted investment in apprenticeships. Will the Scottish Government support Ayrshire College to deliver those 5,000 well-paid jobs for the Scottish workforce, or would it prefer that the tax take and economic growth went outside Scotland? Graeme Dey: I have a sense of déjà vu because we rehearsed that argument in the chamber only a few moments ago. I am very much aware of the opportunities that exist at Ayrshire College, and we will continue conversations with it.”
“If both the SNP and Labour Governments are serious about delivering economic growth, the greatest opportunities lie in places such as Ayrshire’s engineering sector. I have no doubt that, across the chamber this afternoon, we will have unanimous agreement on the importance of the engineering sector, apprenticeships and creating the skills pathway to grow the workforce. However, we urgently need a willingness from both the UK and Scottish Governments to make the choice to back the sector, prioritise funding for engineering apprenticeships and focus that investment where there is greatest demand. 13:07”
“The Scottish Government’s latest budget looks set to deliver a below-inflation increase and continue a trend that has meant that funding has fallen by 17 per cent since 2021-22, according to Audit Scotland. The college is perfectly placed to facilitate millions, if not billions, of pounds of inward investment into its local area, but instead of getting additional funding to make the most of that opportunity, it is being asked to find at least £1.5 million in savings. I appreciate that, in every budget, difficult choices have to be made, but cutting college funding is not a difficult choice—it is a nonsensical choice. Ayrshire has one of the lowest workforce productivity rates in Scotland, but the potential in the area is enormous—nowhere more so than in the engineering sector.”
“The Ayrshire growth deal can be a catalyst for that investment, supporting businesses, including Ryanair, Woodward and GE Caledonian, to take forward their plans for growth. Taken together, those plans are expected to create 1,500 new jobs within the aerospace cluster in the next three years. However, all those investments can succeed only with the right workforce behind them. A significant number of those jobs are aimed not at graduates but at apprentices, giving young people a valuable opportunity to earn and learn at the same time. Most, if not all, of those apprenticeships depend on local colleges having both the funding and the capacity to deliver them. However, as with many colleges across Scotland, Ayrshire College is having to fight an uphill battle to balance its books.”
“Although Alex Rowley’s motion highlights the growing demand for engineers in the renewables sector and energy sectors, we should recognise that there is enormous potential for growth in other parts of the engineering sector. Ayrshire is also home to Prestwick airport and the cluster of international aerospace businesses that surround it. It comes as a surprise to far too many people that more than 50 per cent of Scotland’s entire aerospace workforce—more than 4,000 jobs—is based in and around Prestwick. In my time as an MSP, I have been fortunate to visit many of those businesses and see at first hand the time and money that they have committed to creating sophisticated world-class facilities in Scotland. Those global businesses have put faith in Scotland’s engineering workforce to deliver, and they have ambitions to invest more.”
“As Alex Rowley’s motion and the Scottish Engineering report point out, there is a widening gap between the workforce demands of engineering businesses and the supply of available staff. In the south of Scotland, that gap is nowhere more acute than in Ayrshire, which has a well-established engineering sector that is desperate to grow. Recently, we have seen the arrival of subsea cable manufacturer XLCC, whose multibillion-pound investment at Hunterston is expected to need as many as 3,500 skilled workers over the coming years. Indeed, XLCC and some other businesses are so concerned about securing a skilled workforce that they are investing significant sums of money in developing their own in-house training schemes, often in collaboration with Ayrshire College.”
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak in this debate and I thank Alex Rowley for bringing to the chamber an important subject that I have discussed many times. We are a nation that is synonymous with innovation and engineering know-how—even the miracle-working chief engineer on the Starship Enterprise was a Scot. However, no matter how strong our reputation is, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. Yesterday’s successes are no guarantee of tomorrow’s. That is why it is important that we give the next generation of young engineers the opportunity and the pathway that they need to develop their talents and become the skilled workforce that Scotland’s engineering sector needs.”
“In a briefing for today’s debate, I was interested to read: “General practice in Scotland is in crisis. We have a shrinking GP workforce”, rising patient demand, and practices “and IT infrastructure” that “are not fit for purpose.” I wish I had time to go into that in much more detail. A proper information technology system would allow for integrated and effective workforce planning, swift access to effective local healthcare, a better working environment for NHS staff and greater opportunities to prevent illness rather than just treat it, and it would free up precious time for healthcare professionals to deliver on the front line. We need a health service that allows healthcare professionals to focus on treatment times and prevention in an environment that encourages the retention of staff. 16:58”
“That may save the council budget, but it just increases the pressure on the health budget. Inevitably, with fewer and fewer outlets for those who are suffering from mental health issues and in desperate need—especially those who initially have low levels of mental illness and who could be prevented from developing more acute mental health problems—the GP surgery and A and E become catch-all services, and the pressure mounts on healthcare professionals. Could SAMH and the Mental Health Foundation be on to something? I have been telling that story since I entered this place, and I have discussed it with many health secretaries. All of them tend to agree with me, yet the issues are far worse than they have ever been. Decisions that are taken in all portfolios affect others, especially health.”
“Mental health has been spoken about several times in this debate, so I will use that as an example. Mental health in Scotland is in crisis. SAMH extols the virtues of physical activity and the prevention and treatment of mental illness— remember that it sponsors jogscotland. The Mental Health Foundation published a report called “Food for thought,” which highlighted the importance of diet in good mental health. Members can then look at the outcomes of Scottish Government policy, which include cutting council budgets year after year. That means that councils have to close activity facilities, shut school facilities at the end of the school day, reduce investment in free school meals and cut funding to hugely important community mental health projects.”
“The First Minister said that preventing ill health “is also about doing all we can to live healthier, more active lives.” Given that the healthy life expectancy for those in the most deprived areas of Scotland is 46 years for men and 47 years for women, I whole- heartedly agree with what the First Minister had to say. However, we are still the unhealthiest nation in Europe, and I have been saying that since I was elected. The dial has not moved—a healthy life expectancy of 46 is an absolute disgrace in a modern, wealthy country such as Scotland. We have a health service that is dedicated to the treatment of ill health, but all the while decisions that have been made by the Scottish Government in health and other portfolio areas have been reducing Scotland’s ability to prevent ill health, heaping ever more pressure on NHS staff.”
“In these debates, during the political back and forth, we sometimes forget that real people are being affected. Some of us sat in the chamber seven years ago when the then health secretary, Jeane Freeman, announced that she would provide 800 extra GP places within the next 10 years, despite the fact that the shortage was 864. However, one of the things that she did not take into account was that some doctors would retire during that time. If we fast forward to now, seven years into that 10-year period, we see that there are fewer full-time equivalent GPs than there were then. I say that because I listened to Bob Doris, Neil Gray and George Adam extolling the Government’s training of new GPs. It is about results. There are fewer full-time equivalent GPs than there were seven years ago, when the policy was introduced.”
“Tim Eagle talked about corridor care now being normal. Public Health Scotland has highlighted that one in six Scots is now on a waiting list. Sandesh Gulhane talked about delayed discharge being at record levels, despite the SNP’s promise not that long ago to eradicate it. If 20 per cent of step-up, step-down beds are taken out of care homes, why are we surprised that, at the other end of the equation, people cannot find places in communities in order to tackle delayed discharge? I remind members that looking after somebody in the most appropriate place for them—a care home—costs £900 a week, whereas keeping them in a hospital bed costs £1,900 a week, so what is happening does not even make financial sense. In a very powerful speech, Douglas Ross starkly highlighted real cases involving real constituents.”
“I declare an interest in that I have a daughter who is a medic in the Scottish NHS. In closing the debate on behalf of the Conservatives, I thank the Labour Party for securing time in the chamber to debate what is, in my opinion, the most important issue that Scotland faces: the health of the nation. The issue speaks to productivity and it speaks to economic inactivity due to ill health—apparently, economic inactivity is higher in Scotland than it is in the rest of the United Kingdom. It also speaks to declining life expectancy as well as an extremely low healthy life expectancy in Scotland. The debate has highlighted all that is wrong with the SNP’s approach to health. Jackie Baillie opened the debate with a very powerful line about healthcare professionals “firefighting in a broken system”. How true is that?”
“We know that improvements to social care will strengthen our NHS and our communities, and we remain determined to invest and deliver the vital changes that are needed. I recognise the problems and challenges. It is easy just to point to them; we, however, are focused on resolving them.”
“The cabinet secretary knows of my interest in technology. The pandemic demonstrated to us the impact that technology can have on healthcare and the speed at which it can be deployed. Why has the ability to do that been lost since then? Now, we have only the option of an app that is already being deployed in the rest of the United Kingdom. Neil Gray: I do not believe that that is the case. Progress is being made through the likes of the accelerated national innovation adoption—ANIA— pathway and, on Monday, I was able to see the incredible innovation that is coming through the National Robotarium. I look forward to my scheduled meeting with Mr Whittle to discuss some such areas.”
“The challenge has been in agreeing on what the solutions are. As I said, I believe that I have set out today a path towards improvement that everyone can agree on. The onus is on all of us to make it work. That is what the public want, it is what the people whose lives depend on social care want and it is what their families want. Let us get on and do it.”
“Time and again, the Scottish Government ignored the social care sector when it said that the national care service plan was fatally flawed. That arrogance comes with a human cost—the rising waits for hospital admissions and discharges, the countless numbers of vulnerable people who are waiting in desperate need of a package and, all the while, care homes across the country being forced to close their doors. Given the disdain with which the Scottish Government has treated the sector, how can the sector trust that the Scottish Government will ever listen to its expert opinions again? Maree Todd: I work really closely with the sector in all its glory and diversity, and it is clear that there are differences of opinion. We all agree that change is needed, and we can all agree on the problems that our social care system faces.”
“Many solutions for poor mental health sit outside the health portfolio. They include community activities and inclusion, which, in many cases, third sector organisations are better placed to deliver. Does the minister not recognise that squeezing investment to councils, which fund those interventions, just heaps more and more pressure on statutory services such as CAMHS? Maree Todd: I thank the member for giving me the opportunity to reiterate yet again that we have invested £66 million in our communities mental health and wellbeing fund for adults since 2021. That fund is open to a wide range of projects including those that support young people aged 16 and over. Given the pressures on young people, I am really keen for that group to be given added focus in the future delivery of the fund. Human Metapneumovirus 3.”
“Procurement was a key factor that we identified in the first draft of the plan, and we have undertaken a consultation on that. We are always keen to see what we can do to use the levers that are at our disposal. We recognise that procurement is quite challenging because of the different legislative requirements that we are working to, but I am more than happy to follow up that discussion with the member. Bird Monitoring 7.”
“The cabinet secretary will be aware of my interest in this topic. One of the things that we can do very quickly is improve our public procurement policy in order to get local produce into our schools and hospitals. What progress has the cabinet secretary been making on that? Mairi Gougeon: Yes, absolutely. I am more than happy to follow that up with Brian Whittle to provide more detail. However, I have no doubt that he will be aware of the food for life programme. We have been looking to further expand that in a project area, working with the Soil Association Scotland, and I can provide the member with more information on that. However, it is also important to point to the work that we are doing through the good food nation plan.”
“It is how we create a rural healthcare system that encourages people to stay in a rural setting, and it is how we reduce the intolerable strain on our health service. As the old saying goes, the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Continuing to increase investment in the health service without a long-term plan, as Audit Scotland said in its report on the SNP health service, is unsustainable. Change the delivery mechanism. Give more time to our healthcare professionals to do what they do best. Otherwise, all the Scottish Government is doing is continuing to manage the decline of healthcare in this country, which is felt ever more acutely in our rural communities. 17:59”
“With a basic communication and collaboration platform, those mobile units could be directed to any hotspots, and a workforce plan for rural communities could be easily established. Tim Eagle highlighted the specific problems of small teams and staff shortages. If we layer AI on top of that, diagnosis from scans can be almost immediate. While we are on the subject, imagine being able to remotely access consultants from a mobile doctors’ surgery. Multilayered access to healthcare currently takes months of appointment making, with the patient having to travel from pillar to post. That is especially relevant for people who have to take a ferry or drive hundreds of miles for a 15-minute appointment. Those options are not fantasy or science fiction—they have been available for years. That is how we deliver access to healthcare for all.”
“First, we need a Scotland-wide technology platform with a basic architecture that allows for interoperability between health boards and facets of healthcare, with different and appropriate levels of access. Once that is in place, we will have the ability to take out duplication that occurs in back office administration across health boards. We will also have the ability to share good practice and access patient records directly, and once that is in place, we can start to look at how we take services to the people, rather than insist that people come to the services in all cases, as was raised by Tim Eagle. We have the ability to deliver scans, pharmacy and vaccinations, as was highlighted by Fergus Ewing, and even the ability to deliver doctors’ surgeries, from mobile units.”
“We need to recognise that delivering effective and efficient care will require different approaches and adaptations for rural and urban settings. The development and adoption of technology into the health service in the United Kingdom has lagged way behind the rest of the world, and Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK. The inability to share data across health boards and between primary and secondary healthcare, pharmacy and the third sector seriously hampers our ability to deliver effective and efficient healthcare. However, the problem that we are trying to solve is one of time. How do we give our healthcare professionals more time to deliver healthcare, as opposed to swamping them with administration and red tape?”
“I start, as others have, by congratulating my colleague Tim Eagle on bringing this hugely important matter to the chamber. We are all aware of the pressures that the Scottish health service is under and the incredible work that our healthcare professionals do in such a difficult environment. Those pressures are magnified when trying to deliver healthcare in rural areas. There is much that we could discuss in the debate, and much already has been discussed, but I want to focus on the part that technology could and should play in the health service, especially as a major solution for rural healthcare delivery. We need a health service that effectively delivers healthcare across our country, and that delivers an environment that supports our healthcare professionals.”
“We have agreed to that recommendation in full.”
“The rapid development and deployment of technology during Covid was key to the management of the pandemic and demonstrated that Governments can be agile and active when the need arises. Despite that, the development of healthcare technology and telemedicine has fallen back into the slow lane. What will the Government do to ensure that the demonstrable benefits of technology deployment, including data gathering and sharing—especially in an emergency—are fully realised? Kate Forbes: The member makes a very good point. Data is included in recommendation 5, as is “research for future pandemics”. We accept that recommendation and are fully committed to working with the UK Government to ensure that we have reliable data and research for future pandemics, both for Scotland and on a four- nations basis.”
“That is why the Government is so committed to ensuring that opportunities are available for children in schools. As I said, we will continue to work with sportscotland, Scottish Swimming and local authorities, and on a cross- portfolio basis across the Government in order to ensure that we maximise those opportunities. Budget 2025-26 (Drug and Alcohol Services) 4.”
“Swimming is a life skill. This is a safety issue. Swimming is a positive health activity at a time when children’s physical and mental health is worse than it has ever been. If someone cannot swim, they are excluded from participation, which exacerbates inequalities. As I have continually said, we need to increase opportunities to be active. All primary schools should have access to free swimming lessons. Why does the Scottish Government keep digging its heels in? Surely, it must be running out of excuses by now? Maree Todd: Brian Whittle and I are very aligned on the issues around the value of sport and exercise for both physical and mental health. He alluded to the opportunities that arise from swimming for children with disabilities to be included. It is a superb sport for people to get involved in.”
“The member should reflect on other calls from those on the Conservative benches that would lead to £1 billion-worth of cuts to public service provision, and he should reflect on the lack of credibility and the incoherence that is emanating from those on the Conservative benches on such matters. The Deputy Presiding Officer: That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause to allow front-bench teams to swap. Business Motion 14:52”
“Education is a significant battleground in tackling child poverty, and it used to be a priority of the Government. However, inequality of opportunity in the broader education sector—such as in sport, art, music and drama—has exacerbated the problem. Since 2011, the number of physical education specialists in our primary schools has been cut by 44 per cent. Why has the Scottish Government continually eroded investment into our education system so that opportunities are not there for all our pupils, which disproportionately affects those in the most deprived areas according to the Scottish index of multiple deprivation? Ivan McKee: We are increasing the budget allocation across those portfolios. I have outlined the significant amounts of money that we are investing as part of the Government’s overriding mission to tackle child poverty.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what role schools can play in ensuring that children develop lifelong physical literacy skills. (S6O-04173)”
“From what I gather, there is potential for UWS to have a positive impact on mental health and psychological resilience, which would address the concerns that were raised at that time in the Health and Sport Committee and the Public Petitions Committee—Mr Adam and I both sat on the Health and Sport Committee— about the way in which football was treating our youth.”
“I am thinking about the ability of those clubs to reach into a community in a way that statutory services cannot. I am well aware of some of the work that is done across Scotland. For example, Heart of Midlothian brings men into the changing room to talk about mental health, and I know that many clubs bring in their local communities to participate in initiatives relating to health and nutrition. They are reaching people in ways that statutory services cannot. The collaboration between UWS and St Mirren has massive potential to reach far into the community. A while back, I was a member of a couple of parliamentary committees that brought in the Scottish Football Association to give evidence because we were worried about what it was doing with youth in Scotland and the way in which it was treating young people.”
“When I came to St Mirren in the 1990s, I found it interesting that the training methodology in football at that time was archaic. It was based on what had been learned from the previous manager, the manager before that and so on, and there was no real structure for a physiological approach. As we know, sport has moved on so much, especially in Europe, and the partnership between St Mirren and Paisley is, to me, the embodiment of how communities should work. As Mr Adam has alluded to many times in the chamber, St Mirren Football Club is the centre of the community, and that is true for many football clubs across Scotland, especially those that I would class as the minor clubs outside, say, Rangers and Celtic— Members: Oh! Brian Whittle: Thank you.”
“I congratulate George Adam on bringing the debate to the chamber. I know that this really sticks in his craw, but I, too, have a connection with St Mirren, because I used to coach there. I remember Mr Adam’s dismay when he discovered not only that I was a Tory, but that I used to coach at his beloved St Mirren. I also remember when he decided that he was going to introduce me to the legend that is Jimmy Bone, only to find out that it was Jimmy who had brought me to St Mirren in the first place. I have chuckled about that long and hard. I also have to tell Mr Adam that I have a connection with UWS in Paisley, because my daughter is a graduate of the institution, so I am very pleased to be able to contribute to the debate.”
“It is such an obvious thing to do, and it worries me that it is taking this long. Here we are, still talking about the issue five or six years on from my time as co-convener of the CPG. I will move to a slightly different area and mention type 2 diabetes. Exercise, diet and changing behaviour can, in many cases, not only prevent type 2 diabetes—it can certainly prevent it from deteriorating—but even put it into reverse. That is important because saving money that is spent on treating type 2 diabetes will release even more money in order to develop a cure and treatments for type 1 diabetes. I will stop there. I again congratulate my colleague Foysol Choudhury on bringing the debate to the chamber, and I thank him for allowing me to speak on diabetes once again. 17:49”
“Back when I was co-convener of the cross-party group on diabetes, about five or six years ago, we were pushing the issue and the Government provided money for a trial of the technology. As members have said, the positive impact on people’s quality of life is obvious. For example, parents do not have to wake their children in the middle of the night to test their blood sugar level. It means that much more normality in life is possible. As has been said about the cost to the NHS, something like 10 per cent of the Scottish health budget is spent on treating diabetes and its complications. We could take all that money and reinvest and reinvest and reinvest. We need a programme that pushes the approach further upstream, so that we get to a stage where those who suffer from type 1 diabetes specifically have access to this technology.”
“He had to do finger-prick tests throughout the training session to continually manage his blood sugar level. He was very successful—he medalled at Scottish level in the 1,500m. As members are aware, I am an advocate of managing health with exercise and diet, and I feel that being a sportsperson gave him an incentive to manage his condition as well as he could using that method. I also have a friend whose daughter was born with type 1 diabetes, and she had to do the pin- prick test on her stomach. I tear up every time I think about the fact that my friend used to pin-prick his stomach at the same time, so that it was a shared experience—he is a wonderful parent.”
“I, too, congratulate my colleague Foysol Choudhury for bringing the debate to the chamber. Most people know that I have a long-standing interest in health technology generally and in diabetes specifically. Emma Harper and I co-convened the cross-party group on diabetes in the previous parliamentary term, which is when I began to really understand the importance of technology in the treatment of diabetes, and the cross-party group pushed hard for the adoption of such technology. I have a specific interest because I used to coach somebody with type 1 diabetes. Along with him, I had to learn how to manage his condition while he was training. He would do a finger-prick test when he arrived at training to understand his blood sugar level, which he would manage with a certain fizzy drink.”
“I accept Brian Whittle’s premise that we need to ensure that there is capacity in all aspects of our service, to relieve the current pressure. In response to Jackie Baillie, I narrated that the central pressure that our Ambulance Service colleagues have faced has been the inability to convey patients from the ambulance into accident and emergency departments: our accident and emergency staff are unable to move patients from emergency departments into hospital because patients are not moving on from hospital. I encourage members to support the budget, so that we continue to see investment in social care, in order that there is capacity to meet the demands of patients across”
“The cabinet secretary talked about ensuring that as many people as possible who are clinically ready to leave hospital can do so, whether they return home or to a care home. However, care home places have been cut by a fifth, and that is felt especially in rural areas, where, at the same time, many cottage hospitals have been closed. Such a reduction in step-down care has a direct impact on delayed discharge, so it is little wonder that there is a strain on hospital admissions. Neil Gray: One of the key areas in the budget that has been proposed for the next financial year is the £100 million for reform and improvement, which is to support the shifting of the balance of care from secondary care to primary care and to provide greater capacity in social care.”