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I am going to make progress.

I have set out some of the things that Labour has said that it will do in government at Westminster. The point that should be made to the front-bench members of the SNP Government is that Labour will deliver. We have a history of delivering. When Labour was last in power across the UK, we lifted 2 million children out of poverty, 200,000 of whom were in Scotland. There are now 40,000 more children living in poverty in Scotland than there were a decade ago. That is the SNP’s legacy and it will not be erased by such underwhelming reform as the SNP proposes.

In the here and now, we have to recognise that Scots have suffered through serious financial and health concerns due to the cost of living and the growing NHS crisis. Those same people will expect a bit more from the first programme for government from the First Minister. I imagine that many of them have been left disappointed. I hope that SNP members will consider those points.

I note the commitments of the cabinet secretary and the Government on child poverty, health and social justice, but I hope that I will be forgiven for pointing out that it is all very vague. Unfortunately, however, I think that we can all agree that vague is pretty much what we have come to expect from this Government. Further, not only do the SNP’s back-bench members expect it, they accept it.

After 16 years of varying incompetence and financial mismanagement, we are left with another programme for government that does not amount to much more than carrying on and papering over the cracks. It is a programme for government that suggests that this Administration has run out of ideas and run out of road. Indeed, it is a programme for government that has been described by key stakeholders as timid. Scots are being told of council tax and income tax rises to come, and the top line in this programme for government is one that has been pushed for relentlessly by Scottish Labour: the £12 for carers. However, that £12 for carers is seven months away and it is more than a year since Humza Yousaf first made that promise. We need it now, and we need a route to £15 an hour.

The measures that I mentioned will have a direct impact on inequality and give families the ability to make choices that can help them to build for the future without having to constantly worry about whether they can make ends meet.

I am interested in knowing about how we support the public with messaging about the situation in NHS Scotland. We discussed public messaging with the previous witnesses. What is the Government’s plan for the winter and the longer term? What will be the message about access to the NHS in Scotland?

I have a particular interest in alternative pathways, which I am very fond of. They are a good thing, but it is unrealistic to expect people who have done things in a certain way for a long time, particularly when they are under pressure because of their own or a family member’s health, to understand those pathways. What plans do you have in place?

My questions are on the theme of public messaging. Sometimes it is suggested that we need to manage people’s expectations of the NHS, but I worry about doing that. Based on the evidence that we have heard today and some of the discussions that we have had, I wonder whether Government needs to be more honest with the population about where we are with the NHS. Do you think that that message is out there in the public? In my experience, most people are only trying to access services in the same way as they have for many years.

Yes—I particularly want to put the question to him. We put a lot of pressure on people about alternative pathways. I believe in them, but people have accessed services in the same way for a long time. Sometimes we put too much pressure on people—particularly those in the deep-end practice areas that you mentioned—to access things in a different way, but we do not help them to navigate that well. I would welcome your comments on that, Dr Loughrey.

You might, in the previous evidence, have heard one of the medics say that, last year, one enormous pressure related to Strep cases. He felt that the system was not easily able to quickly change its messaging for parents. Have you learned lessons from what happened last year so that things might be better if we have a similar situation in the future?

Thank you.

I thank Christine Grahame for bringing the motion to the chamber and, on behalf of the Scottish Labour health team and as a member for the region, congratulate NHS Borders on the 20th anniversary of the paediatric ambulatory care unit at Borders general hospital in Melrose.

There are few things more important than the health and wellbeing of our children, and that such specialist and focused provision remains in the Borders is a real positive and shows the importance of dedicated paediatric care.

It is heartening to learn from the NHS Borders description of the ward that the key aims of the unit include reducing waiting times for children and having nurses with specific responsibility to care for them when they visit the ward. As other members have said, that will be well received by the young people and their families.

It is important that this service remains in the Borders. At a time when so many have to leave for work and to access other services, this NHS provision remains firmly within the Borders and serves the people of the area. As a member for South Scotland, I cannot count the number of occasions when I have heard of residents having to travel to Glasgow, Lanarkshire or Edinburgh to receive services. It is undoubtedly the case that the provision of services, including health, can be severely limited in rural areas, so this service should be welcomed. Long may it continue in the Borders.

As the motion states, it is apt that we take time to give credit to paediatric nursing teams in the Borders and across the country. The care that they provide, the compassion that they show and the contribution that they make to the operation of our NHS have been rightly recognised in the motion and by all speakers in this debate.

However, it would be remiss of me, as an Opposition member, not to mention the problems in the NHS, which we should consider. We learned this morning of a staggering one in seven Scots waiting for treatment and of thousands of children and young people on long waiting lists for child and adolescent mental health services. The Government has not yet met the 18-week target for CAMHS waiting times. It is important that we discuss those figures when we have the opportunity.

However, we are here to commend the work of the paediatric ambulatory care service and I again do so. Like my colleague Emma Harper, I thought that the medical director’s words were wonderful when he made the point about how well nursing services have done during the 20 years of the service.

It is right that we have come together to debate this important unit, but it is our responsibility to ask the minister to tell us about how we can improve services. I hope that the minister will congratulate that service tonight but will also outline some of the issues that must be addressed and, particularly on a day when we have heard the programme for government, explain how the Government will do that.

Not at all. It is just that he was obviously part of the input into the NHS so far.