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Does the member acknowledge that there were staffing problems before Covid and that it is not just Covid that has caused those problems?

Is the cabinet secretary aware of concerns about the Covid passport scheme not being enforced rigorously or consistently at large sporting events such as football and rugby matches? How will the Scottish Government address such concerns, to allow the Covid passport scheme to have its desired impact?

For me and most of my constituents, this is a simple issue. It is about doing what is right to help an NHS that is struggling to keep its head above water and it is about making sure that we have well-trained and well-looked-after staff who are supported to give the best care in the world. I do not want this to become a party-political issue—I do not think that the issue would benefit from that—but the Scottish Government must step up.

I worry that, going into winter, we will see a repeat of the capacity crisis that we have seen year after year in Scotland and elsewhere. That is undoubtedly exacerbated by the Scottish Government’s failure to properly engage in serious workforce planning. That is not a new problem, nor is it, as some spin would have us believe, a problem that is caused solely by Covid. Warnings were in place long ago, and many of my colleagues who sat in the previous session of Parliament will make the same points that I will make today.

As Jackie Baillie indicated, Labour members will support the motion on removing the cap. We must remove that cap on funded places for front-line medical students, but we cannot do so without additional investment for our first-rate medical schools and the capacity to deliver foundation places to all graduates on the completion of their degrees. That is basic common sense, and I believe that it is achievable with the correct political will.

The problem is generally applicable across the medical fields, as Jackie Baillie indicated. I have repeatedly raised issues in the Parliament around the need to increase the number of trained pharmacists in Scotland. Without moving away from the purpose of this debate, I want to make that point again. There is a staff shortage emergency in the NHS in Scotland, and we have to be honest about that.

Beyond the vital need to get more high-quality front-line staff into our NHS, we need to take care to look after those who are already putting in incredible shifts day after day. Margo Cranmer, the chair of Unison’s nursing sector committee, has described Scotland’s nursing team as “stressed and exhausted”—that has already been mentioned, but I thought that it was worth stating that again. She went on to say:

“Substantial investment in extra staff and changes to their working lives are essential.”

Staff retention is nowhere near where we need it to be, and I view maintaining a satisfied workforce as a top priority for any service that wants to tackle the challenges that lie ahead. I do not think that, in all honesty, we can say that that is where we are in Scotland at the moment.

We have all spoken to constituents and representatives of medical NHS staff who have no end of stories about the strain and pressure that they are under. I want to give them something to hold on to, not just a few headlines or motions of thanks. Therefore, as well as lifting the cap, let us get a long-term pay deal that seriously reflects what health groups and trade unions are asking for, and offer a working-time review to every staff member considering retirement, which will give us the opportunity to offer more flexible working arrangements and retain staff for longer. Staff are fed up with being a secondary consideration.

At the heart of all this is low pay, which is a mistake that the Government makes again and again. We are supposed to be designing a transformational national care service, but the Government has still not committed to a wage of £15 an hour for social care workers. The NHS recovery plan that was presented to Parliament a few weeks ago was equally full—

My question is about rights for care home residents. We know what happened during the pandemic. Does the minister feel that the opening up of care homes to visitors provides adequate access for family and friends to ensure the wellbeing and health of residents?

The minister briefly mentioned CAMHS, which is very important for young people and their families. We know that waiting times have been quite long. I wonder whether you can give us some information on three aspects relating to CAMHS. The first is waiting times, which you have touched on. We need to get it right for people by getting waiting times down.

Secondly, there are a number of rejected referrals to CAMHS. The Government has acknowledged that and has said that more work needs to be done. What can be done for those young people?

The third aspect relates to unmet need. We know that when schools were closed because of Covid there was a drop in the number of referrals to CAMHS. Medical staff have identified that young people might have missed a window, so we should ensure that they get any support that they need at this time.

I want to ask a wee bit more about unmet need. Do you have a plan? Have you spoken to any organisations about what we might do to identify young people who have been missed?

I thank Emma Harper for bringing this important debate to the chamber—as she often does with so many conditions. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I welcome world COPD day, which takes place tomorrow, and I recognise this year’s theme of “Healthy Lungs—Never More Important”.

The prevalence of COPD in Scotland and, indeed, globally should cause all of us concern. As Emma Harper has mentioned in her motion and in her speech, the increasing prevalence of COPD means that it is estimated to become the third most frequent cause of mortality worldwide by 2023.

I consider it important, in order to stop that worrying trend, that the causes are understood and highlighted. It is well known that smoking is the most common cause of COPD, being the leading factor for nine out of 10 cases, according to NHS Scotland. That means that around 90 per cent of COPD cases can be tracked back to a single cause, which highlights for the Parliament where action must be taken to address the trends that we are currently seeing.

In 2018, the Scottish Government set out plans to create a smoke-free generation by 2034, protecting those born from 2013 onwards from the adverse impacts of smoking. I and Scottish Labour support that move. I hope that, in the longer term, it will address what will be an even more challenging condition.

However, we need more action now to protect those living with COPD. The condition is another of those that disproportionately impacts the poorest in our society. Sadly, it is another example of where the Scottish Government is falling short when it comes to addressing health inequalities. “The Scottish Burden of Disease Study, 2016: Deprivation report” highlighted that COPD was one of the “leading causes” of ill health or early death in Scotland’s poorest communities.

Indeed, in 2019, Action on Smoking & Health (Scotland) reported that more than five times the number of people in the most deprived groups smoke compared to those in the least deprived groups. That highlights a clear link again in Scotland, where poorer people in Scotland’s most deprived areas are more likely to suffer from health conditions such as COPD and are therefore more likely to have their quality of life reduced further.

However, the inequalities are not limited to smoking. The Health and Safety Executive suggests that working in construction, textiles, factories and welding are also linked to increased chances of getting COPD. In each of those places, there are low-paid workers, often from more deprived areas, and if they are already smokers they could be at further risk of facing significant health difficulties in the form of COPD.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland reports that people who are living with long-term health conditions such as COPD are at greater risk of readmission to hospital if they are not supported to manage their conditions and they have high levels of loneliness, isolation, and poor mental health. It is therefore right that Emma Harper highlights the need for greater focus on COPD care, and I believe that such focus should include taking the advice of organisations such as Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland, as well as considering programmes such as their hospital to home support service, which offers direct post-diagnosis support.

COPD is another condition that highlights and exacerbates the already significant health inequalities that Scotland faces. I welcome the fact that the motion refers to health inequalities underpinned by smoking, air pollution and poor quality of housing, but we cannot accept that our ability to debate health inequalities in this Parliament should be limited to members’ business debates.

Where I live in Ayrshire, the rates of COPD are among the highest in Scotland. In 2018, NHS Ayrshire and Arran had the highest proportion of people living with COPD in Scotland. This debilitating condition causes ill health at home as well as long stays in hospital with repeated readmissions. In representing the south of Scotland, I have to ask the Scottish Government to take health inequality seriously. It is incumbent on the Scottish Government to lead a debate on the health inequalities in our country and to be held to account for its record on addressing them. In doing so, we might take some purposeful steps towards helping the tens of thousands of people who are being disproportionately affected by conditions such as COPD as a result of deprivation. We can and must do more to help those communities.

I share in the thoughts and wishes of members across the chamber as we pay our respects to those who have fallen and those who still feel the pain of those losses to this day.

As an MSP for South Scotland, I, like many others here today, have met and worked alongside members of our armed forces community during campaigns and outreach down the years. In that time, I have been struck by their deep sense of commitment and dedication, not only to their country but to others who went before them and, indeed, to the places where they live. Many of the charities and community groups that we all work with daily have at their heart people with a forces background, who use the skills that they have learned to improve the places that they call home. If we can reflect a sense of that commitment today, we will have given something worth while back to our country and the rich culture that is a key part of the armed forces here in Scotland.

In that spirit, today I am wearing a poppy that was made for me by pupils at Kyle academy in Ayr—a brilliant school, full of inspiring teachers and bright young pupils. Those children are actively learning about the stories and events that led to so many losing their lives so that we could live without war. Sadly, however, we are not there yet, and it is for their sake, as much as for those who fell, that we must continue in our efforts to educate each generation that follows and move forward towards a world without war. After all, that is what we all want and, to my mind, it is the best way to remember the sacrifices of the past.

These memorials, large and small—whether a national moment of silence or young people making crafts at school—are all important, not least because they force us to shine a light on the harsh lessons of war, while being reverential and educational about the issues that surround it.

For me, the key points are the educational aspect of remembrance commemorations and the understanding that war has so many victims, some of whom are never truly remembered. If even for a moment I can persuade others to cast their mind towards those individuals too, I will have done some good. I want our children to grow up understanding why those wars happened and, equally, learning how we can avoid them in the future. I hope that our children can teach us too, as we still see too much pain in the world due to conflict today.

Part of getting to that point is appreciating the significance of the effects of war on those who fought and their families, both physically and mentally. As we have heard from Paul Sweeney, mental health care to veterans and their loved ones is important and must be available—whether self-guided wellbeing support, one-to-one or group therapy, or access to psychological services, all of which veterans have reported to be essential at various times in their journey back to civilian life.

Yes—very much so. We hear that getting the right thing at the right time makes the biggest difference to people, and I have other examples of charities and veterans organisations that do great work to ensure that people get access to those services.

I believe that reaching out also involves giving veterans and their families a place to talk and share their experiences. I welcome the work of charities, such as First Point Ayrshire and Arran in my community, that also help people find jobs, housing and other support. Equally, many active chapters of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association—SSAFA, the armed forces charity—and the Royal British Legion across South Scotland do exceptional work in the community for their own members and those in need from a veteran background and their families.

I draw attention to a more recent, but equally overlooked, aspect of the issue that other members have mentioned, about the vital role that the armed forces have played in protecting the health of Scotland and the UK during the pandemic and at the moment. Civilian assistance, which includes driving ambulances and heavy goods vehicles, and helping with the vaccination programme, is becoming increasingly important. That change goes to show the evolving role that those brave men and women can play in many different parts of our country, and we should express our gratitude for all of that here today. I thank all the members who have contributed to the debate.

I have heard numerous reports that, although good school facilities are available, it is difficult for communities to access them. Have you or do you intend to look at how communities can access the excellent facilities that are already there?