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That is very helpful. Is enough urgency being placed on that to get it through quickly enough? That is the key.

I want to be clear that I accept that the panel members want things to work and that they are working hard to get this in. However, I want to talk a wee bit about the reality that we observe and what we see in our in-boxes from patients who have waited on trolleys and have found that the staff work 100 per cent and above and beyond, but are still finding it difficult. Staff trade unions also tell us how much stress staff are under in relation to beds. The professional organisations tell us that, too.

I visited a local hospital at 9 o’clock on a Friday morning. There were three ambulances waiting to unload, every accident and emergency bay had had a patient in it for more than 24 hours, and the bed capacity was basically non-existent. I was told by staff and managers—everybody—that that situation was not unusual.

We need to be realistic about where we are, and we need to talk about whether there is enough support from the Government to help health boards. Will we have enough bed space this winter? The issue is not just bed space: I have been advised that the ratio of bed space to staffing is not at the level that we need even before we fill the beds—they are constantly getting staff in again and again.

I appreciate that you want things to work, but how realistic is it that things will be in a good space this winter?

Recent shocking figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service highlight a shortfall of almost 1,000 in the number of students who are currently accepted in nursing and midwifery courses in Scotland, compared with the Government’s own recommended intake for 2022-23.

In my South Scotland region last week, I saw at first hand the impact that shortages are having on Ayrshire’s hospitals and the wellbeing of their staff. We need a clear plan for making nursing and midwifery an appealing career for young people to address those figures, which are being described as “extremely worrying” for nursing.

I ask the First Minister: when will her Government stop patting itself on the back, realise the scale of this recruitment problem and outline in detail the actions that it will take to address it?

I thank Alexander Stewart for bringing the debate to the chamber. It is right that we recognise the vital contribution that out-of-hours GP services make to healthcare provision across Scotland. It is also right that we stress how important it is for all regions of NHS Scotland, supported by the Scottish Government, to ensure that out-of-hours GP services not only continue to operate but continue to provide the highest levels of care. If members are absolutely honest and if they look at their inboxes, they will know that constituents are telling us that there is strain on GP services and GP out-of-hours services.

However, it is important to note the excellent work of our NHS staff in hospitals, primary care settings and the community. The work that they do always goes above and beyond expectation, particularly in recent times when people have needed that bit of extra help. As mentioned in the motion, the contribution of healthcare professionals, support staff, drivers and others must not be understated.

Primary care out-of-hours services are now embedded as a fundamental part of our healthcare provision in Scotland. Many of us remember our local GPs providing 24-hour cover. A variety of models were used but, for people like me who lived in a rural area, their own GP or GP practice staff attended if they called out a GP overnight. Of course, since then, there has been a wide variety of changes, with out-of-hours services coming under the control of the health boards in 2004. As we have heard from other members, that was in large part because of the increasing demand for services out of hours, with which the traditional models of provision could not cope.

However, it is important that we learn from the past. In my region, in Mauchline and Catrine, where I live, GP services such as Ballochmyle medical practice face significant challenges. A number of residents have contacted me who are waiting significant lengths of time for an appointment, who face challenges with the administration of prescriptions and lengthy telephone queues when they phone up, or who cannot get an appointment with a GP. Residents are finding it difficult to balance their lives with getting a GP appointment.

The pressure on day-to-day GP services is severe. Despite the best efforts of our workforce, they clearly need to be more supported. We must ensure that that pressure does not spill over further into out-of-hours services, on which there is now a significant reliance to get some treatments. I repeat that we cannot forget the lessons of the past. We must ensure that there are sufficient resources to meet demand and that patients can access high-quality care in GP and out-of-hours GP services.

In the short time that I have left, I will focus on the work and commitment of all the staff groups that are under enormous pressure, which cannot be overstated. During the summer, I visited a number of services and staff groups across my South Scotland region who work in a variety of settings in the NHS. It is not an exaggeration to say that NHS staff across the board, from nursing staff, porters, caterers and cleaners to those working in GP practices, are exhausted and demoralised and feel undervalued by the current Government and the structures that are in place. Staff need a proper plan for pay, recruitment and wellbeing provision, and that includes those working in out-of-hours services. If the Government truly values our NHS and NHS staff, it will act.

In conclusion, I once again thank all those who contribute to the delivery of our out-of-hours GP services in my region of South Scotland and beyond. The work that they do is invaluable to ensure that people’s medical needs are met in hours when others are perhaps not at work. I thank the member for bringing the debate to the chamber.

I have a quick question for Leigh Johnston. Recently, it has been mentioned to me that one of our responses to Covid in hospitals was to increase bed capacity—which is understandable—and that that has continued. Some health boards are concerned that the staffing issues were never addressed. There are staffing issues to do with recruitment, and the full-time equivalent posts are simply not there. It was mentioned to me that staffing was running at around 70 per cent of the funding allocation. Is that something that you have picked up on across the board?

If I wanted to look at bed capacity before and after Covid, where would be the best place to look at that information and the staffing levels around that?

That is helpful. Thank you very much.

I thank my colleague Rhoda Grant for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a member of the Co-operative Party.

In a week in which we have debated the impact of the cost of living crisis, it is only right that we support fair tax week, debate the importance of ensuring that every company is held firmly to account and note the positive steps that have been taken by co-operatives and other companies.

It has been known for years that powerful corporations and super-rich individuals are exploiting a rigged global system that allows them to avoid paying their fair share of tax. As always, it is the poorest people in our country—the low-paid workers—who pay the price. We have spent this week talking here about how people in our communities are struggling to afford necessities such as food and heat. It is appalling that we should have to celebrate companies that pay the appropriate level of tax in the correct jurisdiction and at the correct time. That should be the norm. Alas, the actions of the super-rich bring us here today.

Extreme economic inequality is being fuelled by an epidemic of tax evasion and avoidance that has reached an unprecedented scale. In that context, I thank the Fair Tax Foundation for its work in celebrating those companies that do pay fair taxes and for getting individuals, companies and parliamentarians to talk about responsible tax conduct.

Governments should take note that polling by the Fair Tax Foundation shows broad public support for the use of the fair tax mark and for a greater interest in tax behaviour: 66 per cent believe that Governments and local councils should at least consider a company’s ethics and how it pays its taxes when awarding public contracts; 80 per cent believe that all businesses benefiting from Government bailouts should have to agree to a set of conditions; 77 per cent believe that all companies, whatever their size, should have to publicly disclose the taxes that they do, or do not, pay in the UK; and 74 per cent of the public would rather shop from or work with businesses that can prove that they pay their fair share of tax.

Part of what we can do is engage with the public. By doing so, we can put increased pressure on companies to behave properly and on Governments globally to reform a broken system.

I congratulate the co-operative movement for its part in achieving the fair tax mark, both by highlighting tax avoidance practices and by supporting the Fair Tax Foundation’s call for reform of Scottish public procurement rules to allow contracting authorities explicitly to reward good tax conduct when awarding public contracts.

Businesses must make public commitments to shun tax avoidance, profit shifting or any artificial presence in tax havens. They should make the fullest possible disclosure of their finances and of their beneficial owners and persons having significant control. I hope that the minister will respond to those points.

Significantly, the Fair Tax Foundation also opposes any efforts by the UK Government to reverse the planned increase in the rate of UK corporation tax, which would further facilitate an international race to the bottom. Surely, no one wants to go there.

I thank my colleague Rhoda Grant for bringing the debate to the chamber and hope that it allows us all to raise the important issue of ensuring that companies in Scotland, the UK and across the world are properly held to account.

It is right that we need to consider all ways of helping women through perimenopause and the menopausal stages of their lives. However, to spearhead the policy and advocacy work in that regard, we must appoint a women’s health champion in Scotland. In June, the First Minister told the Parliament that such an appointment would be made in the summer. Charities are now saying that the deadline has been missed. Has the Scottish Government made an appointment? If not, why not?

I believe, as all members do, that we are, if we are not already deep into one, on the cusp of a national emergency. I see it every day in my region, and now that we have returned to Parliament I am distinctly aware that the issue should be the primary focus of the Scottish Government, going forward.

The cost of feeding your family and heating your home in this country is unmanageable, and in many cases it will be fatal. We have to frame the debate in those terms, because that is how worrying the situation is. Anything less than that is not serious and will not work.

I thank the Trussell Trust for all its work, and I particularly thank Fiona, whom I visited in Peebles during the recess. Fiona brought home to me the reality of people’s lives at this time. The Trussell Trust’s research has revealed that more than 2 million people across the UK have skipped meals during the past three months in order to keep up with other essential costs. Fiona told me that mothers, fathers and carers are choosing not to eat so that their children can eat, and that grandparents are skipping meals in order to put money aside for heating their homes this winter. We often hear from both Governments that Scotland and the UK are the best places to live and raise a family, but that is all just public relations nonsense, if the reality is as stark as that, for so many people.

I have said this in the chamber before and I say it again: I deplore the Tory Government’s attack on working-class people. The Tories are the friends of the rich and show no interest in redistributing wealth to those who need it most. We know that the new Prime Minister will try to deregulate and strip taxes from the wealthiest, and we also know the effect that that will inevitably have.

So, now, more than ever, we need the Scottish Government to step up and use the powers that it has to help those who need it most. Scottish Labour has called for immediate action, including a rent freeze, a winter eviction ban and more affordable public transport to directly support people at the sharp end. After visiting Aberlour Child Care Trust and meeting young families in Dumfries, I also call on the Government to wipe out school-meals debt. That simple action could bring great relief to many families.

It is promising that some of those commitments have been met in the programme for government, but we need emergency legislation in order to implement them without further delay. I want to make an important point, which is that we need to get a grasp of how long the measures have taken. My colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy raised that. In my kindest moments, I might say that the SNP just has poor time-management skills, but we must do this with urgency. The increased child payment, for example, is very welcome, but why have six to 16-year-olds had to wait 21 months to claim what they were promised in 2018?