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I thank Bob Doris for bringing this important debate to the chamber.

Everyone deserves as pain-free and peaceful a death as possible, surrounded by those who love them, in a place that comforts them and in which the choice is theirs. We can all agree that, at some point, we will all be touched by the death of a loved one, and that, should that loved one need end-of-life care over a period of time—palliative care—we would all wish that to be provided in the best way possible, by trained and sensitive care staff, who, as Bob Doris indicated, are passionate about what they do and have the knowledge, time and training to support not only the physical side of our loved one’s deterioration but their emotional needs and those of the wider family.

As we have heard, since its inception in 1948, Marie Curie has developed to do just that. I welcome the commitment of Marie Curie to working with those at the end of life. Nowadays, Marie Curie works not only in hospices but in people’s homes, in our communities and with our NHS. My South Scotland region is served by NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Borders and NHS Dumfries and Galloway. I know that patients and staff from all of those health boards hold that working relationship in high regard.

The report that others have mentioned talks about numbers of visits. In my region, in 2022-23, 59 people in NHS Ayrshire and Arran were seen, 95 people in NHS Borders were seen and there were more than 4,000 visits in NHS Dumfries and Galloway. Every number represents a person who may be in pain and feeling overwhelmed and lonely as they approach those last days of life. Like others in the chamber, I am thankful that we have a dedicated organisation such as Marie Curie, which does its best to provide visits to patients, often in very challenging circumstances.

I will raise three issues that have been touched on by others and that really struck me about the provision of end-of-life care and the provision of hospice care in 2023, as we go into 2024. We can all agree that it is valuable work and a service that we want to continue. For that to be a reality, we need to address the issue of funding. We have heard that statutory funding has not kept pace and that hospices across Scotland face a £16 million deficit. We need the Scottish Government to make clear what steps it can take to support the funding of hospices. That links to my next point, which is about staffing.

We all agree that hospice staff are trained to the highest level and need to be seen on a par with NHS colleagues.

After a lengthy campaign from trade unions and third sector organisations—in particular, I commend Aberlour for its campaign—I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to providing the funding that will see school meal debt cleared. However, it remains a very short-term fix. If the Scottish Government is truly committed to reducing the debt owed to public bodies in the future and for the long term, will it increase the thresholds for free school meal eligibility, which Aberlour research suggests have barely risen in 20 years? Increase in eligibility for free school meal provision is a key ask, and a fair one, too.

I, too, thank Clare Adamson for bringing this important debate to the chamber and for her heartfelt and honest speech about the reality for patients and their families. It was well received and I appreciate her doing that.

On behalf of Scottish Labour, I mark complex regional pain syndrome awareness month, which, as we have noted, was in November. I pay tribute to all those who work to raise awareness of CRPS and the impact that it can have on individuals and their families. As the motion states, CRPS is a debilitating chronic disorder that mostly affects the limbs and is characterised by severe pain, changes of bones, joints and skin, swelling, temperature and colour changes and motor dysfunction. Like other members, I was totally unaware of the effects and the presentation of symptoms.

As we have heard, those characteristics are debilitating and are often not recognised—that was clear from the speeches of Clare Adamson and other members—but we know that approximately 15,000 people across the United Kingdom live with the condition.

At this juncture, as Clare Adamson and others have done, I pay tribute to CRPS UK and Burning Nights, which are registered charities in the UK and do tremendous work not only to increase awareness of CRPS but to support those who live with it and to help them to improve their lives through advice, information, briefings and the development of research in this important area. From the briefings that we were kindly sent, I gather that we need to make sure that we are resourcing research into the condition on behalf of people who are suffering.

We have heard that Burning Nights holds an annual conference to bring together in a formal forum people who are impacted to enable them to discuss matters pertaining to the condition, and CRPS UK also holds regular events that raise awareness, inform people of the condition and encourage them to think about the importance of research in the area.

We have heard tonight that what is really important is that sufferers of CRPS are helped by the charities, families and loved ones and, often, volunteers who are keen to publicise the impact of the disorder on individuals. The latter is a key point. CRPS is so poorly understood that we need engagement from our clinicians to make sure that it is seen as an important area to research. I am keen to hear from the minister whether the Scottish Government understands that and whether it can see the need to progress research in that area on behalf of individuals. I am sure that we can do that through the work of the charities and the families.

I will make one final point about research. I often mention allied health professionals, because I have worked in that area previously. I know that they have been looking to come forward with ideas for research, because a multidisciplinary approach can be helpful. They recognised that there was not enough research in the work that they did, so they have put a lot of effort into doing that. Any time that I get an opportunity to speak with them, as I often do, I will ask how that is going and about what they have done.

I thank the national health service and the charities, but mostly I thank the patients and their families for being so committed to moving forward with this poorly understood condition, which causes a lot of pain and distress to the families that are involved. I thank Clare Adamson again for bringing the debate to the chamber.

As well as expanding the number of specialist endometriosis centres, it is also critical that the impacts of endometriosis are recognised in the workplace. I was pleased to learn that East Ayrshire Council has become the first local authority in Scotland to officially recognise the impact that endometriosis has on female employees by signing up to the endometriosis friendly employer scheme. What engagement has the minister had with that important scheme, and will she take the necessary steps to encourage all councils to engage with it?

I am interested in some of the points that you have made around the balance between grass-roots community sport, with football as part of that, and the national team and the drive to get quality in that team.

First, on community space, I know from what we have read that you have an influence on it and you meet with stakeholders about it. Where are we at the moment in terms of having good quality space for people to play ordinary games of football?

Do you have a strategy to try and work with stakeholders? I think that everybody here would agree with your point that having those facilities is important for preventative health impacts, but have you started to pull together a strategy for that? Who might be able to work together to improve grass-roots clubs?

Lovely.

I appreciate the drive that you have put into that. I hope that the committee will get a chance to find out what developments there are, particularly if you are working with the Government.

Given the time, I will move on to ask about the national team. We have had some papers saying that there is a hope to develop a very top-end training complex. How far ahead are you with that, and given some of the discussions we have had, I would like to know whether that will involve only the men’s game, or whether it will involve the women’s game? Who will be able to use that facility?

Good morning. My question probably leads on from what Laura Wilson was talking about, as it is about the models of training for staff in the NHS. For a lot of professions across the NHS, we have a very university-based style. We have heard a lot of evidence about that and about how we encourage people in remote areas to train and stay in their own area, in order to build a workforce that cares a lot about that community.

I would be interested to hear from each witness, when it comes to their profession and the wider NHS, what models they think that we could use, or what the universities could do, to get a better balance for people.

I am sorry to interrupt, but do you have any good examples of where that has happened, or is it something that still needs to happen?