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Do you have a plan within your department for equality proofing policies?

The key thing to remember is that patients are central to this, so their experiences are really important to move it forward. I urge the cabinet secretary to make sure that there is a serious commitment to alternative pathways, because we all believe that that will ensure good outcomes for patients.

I am really pleased that you have listened to the evidence, cabinet secretary. It is clear from the evidence that patients see GPs as the gold standard, so it is understandable that they sometimes find this alternative way of working quite difficult. It is our responsibility to try to support them to use these new routes in a way that makes them feel engaged and valued and that they are getting the best treatment.

It is clear from the evidence that the committee has taken—and I hear this in my constituency all the time as well—that patients feel a bit passed around; they feel that the systems are not working very well and that there is no clear leadership at the health board level on how those pathways work. We have also heard quite a number of times about people who have gone all the way round the system and back again. I would suggest that there is some urgency around sorting that out and that it probably requires some serious financial investment. Where are you with that in relation to your plans for the next few years?

I want to take this opportunity to raise what is an extremely important issue as we change pathways. Screening definitely needs looked at, because the significant difference in uptake, particularly among women and girls in deprived areas, can lead to very different outcomes. Cabinet secretary, are you prioritising screening? Are you ensuring that opportunities are taken up in deprived groups, particularly as pathways change?

This is an important question. As it makes changes, particularly to primary care, does the Scottish Government ensure that all its policies and practices are health inequality proofed?

I want to make progress, please.

Scottish Labour’s view is that the mental health and wellbeing of our population should be of paramount importance. If the Scottish Government shares that view, it must act and take on board all the recommendations of the committee’s report to improve services, and it must do so with purpose. As Dr Gulhane said, this is a mainstream issue that must be addressed with urgency. Improving services includes investing in more mental health professionals in the community so that perinatal mental health services are accessible and close to home for those who need them. Alex Cole-Hamilton addressed that issue very well.

As I have highlighted previously in the Parliament, those in the most deprived areas are more likely to be impacted by poor mental health and wellbeing. According to the Scottish Government’s “Perinatal and Infant Mental Health—Equality Impact Assessment Record”,

“This is true for perinatal mental illness too, with higher levels of deprivation correlating with higher prevalence of poor perinatal mental health”.

That highlights clearly that the accessibility of services close to home is pivotal for everyone, but in particular it amplifies that that should be the case in areas of most need, to ensure that no woman is disadvantaged or misses out on services due to their postcode or income.

I must reiterate the attention that the committee’s report places on the importance of ensuring consistent NHS recruitment and retention of midwives, which has been mentioned many times, and on the need for them to have the necessary training to meet the needs of women who suffer from perinatal mental health problems.

The area is one in which too many midwives, nurses and other health professionals feel overworked, underpaid, undervalued and undertrained, because of the stress that is put on them in the workplace and, I believe, because of the Government’s lack of action at many points. I say to the Government that, without action, the numbers leaving the profession will increase, and that we must do more. I look forward to a response from the Government on such action.

I am pleased to open for Scottish Labour and to welcome the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s report into perinatal mental health, which is an overlooked and important subject that requires much greater attention, as was acknowledged by the committee in its report.

The report exposes a great number of problems that we must address, as a Parliament and as a country. Significant concerns are contained within the report. Those concerns expose the Scottish Government’s far from ideal record on supporting women who experience perinatal mental health problems. I hope and trust that some of those concerns can be addressed today.

In many parts of Scotland, there is a complete lack of accessible mother and baby units, which are vital in ensuring positive perinatal mental health. Furthermore, the report highlights that there is completely inconsistent access to specialist community perinatal mental health services across the country, which we have heard about. As is the case with so many things in our health service, it seems that there is a significant postcode lottery in access to this facet of healthcare. Generally, and despite its positive rhetoric concerning mental health, the Scottish Government is simply not doing enough to address this particular concern from mothers.

Women should not have to wait more than six weeks for initial referral to perinatal mental health services. It appears that, like for so many other targets, that was just a shot in the dark and that very little planning or funding was put in place to meet the target.

Another familiar story is the problem of recruitment and retention of staff—in this case, midwives, who are a cornerstone of our entire health service. Not only do we need more midwives; we need more who have the training that is necessary to deal with the very specific nature of perinatal mental health problems.

One account that is in the committee report, from a member of the Royal College of Midwives, was particularly concerning. I will quote this, because it is important that we hear from the staff. The respondent said:

“I cannot remember the last time we had safe staffing within our unit. On a daily basis, we are struggling to provide a decent standard of care to our women and their families.

I am an experienced midwife and am considering [leaving] the profession because I can’t keep working under the high levels of stress. The continuous staff shortages [are] horrendous and make me worry that errors and mistakes could be made.”

That says everything that we need to know about the strain that so many midwives are under.

The report notes:

“The British Medical Association highlighted that the demand placed on midwives on overstretched postnatal wards resulted in pressing clinical needs taking precedence over emotional and psychological needs.”

If we cannot properly fund, train and retain more midwives with the necessary skills, that problem will continue, and hard-working staff will continue to consider leaving the profession.

In closing, I say that Scottish Labour has genuine concerns regarding the Scottish Government’s ability to meet basic waiting time targets and to recruit, train and retain adequate numbers of staff. That was demonstrated by recent statistics that show that there are more than 6,600 whole-time equivalent nursing and midwifery vacancies across Scotland, 128 of which are in midwifery. For such an important role, that is very concerning. We must tackle the number of vacancies in midwifery. To address that, Scottish Labour is calling on the Scottish Government to update Parliament on its progress in implementing the 28 recommendations from the report, “Delivering Effective Services: Needs Assessment and Service Recommendations for Specialist and Universal Perinatal Mental Health Services”, which was published in 2019. We have not heard a lot since then.

My party believes that we must, in the short term, provide specific support to women who experience postnatal depression as part of a much wider increase in mental health spending. We need to improve breastfeeding support work by providing a home visit in the first week that a baby spends at home, and we need to carry out further consultation to ensure that women’s needs are met. We should also launch a “babies meet babies” programme to promote socialisation and interaction by bringing together parents and carers of babies.

Those are effective and important steps that could be taken relatively soon and would immediately have an impact in improving perinatal mental health in Scotland. I hope that the Scottish Government will endeavour to consider those ideas and address them in its response and in taking forward the core actions that the report suggests.

In closing for Scottish Labour, I again welcome the report by the Scottish Parliament’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I thank Gillian Martin for opening the debate on behalf of the committee and for sharing the details of the process that we went through in completing this very important report.

I am glad that the report recognises that, quite simply, the Scottish Government has not done enough to support women who experience perinatal mental health problems. In fact, the Government has fallen well short of expectations, with women in some parts of Scotland being unable to access mother and baby units. As has been mentioned, that is completely unacceptable. If the Scottish Government is serious about giving perinatal mental health the focus and consideration that it deserves, it must start by ensuring that effective measures, preventive and otherwise, are in place to support women who face difficulty.

I am sure that all members welcome Kevin Stewart’s listening mode, but I would very much like to see him in action mode, as that is what will be needed to meet the challenges ahead.

The minister is right that we should all encourage people to participate. I assure him that I will look out for all the actions that he takes—he should not worry about that. Because of mismanagement and lack of investment in services by the Government, the issue has become a serious one on which we need action.

Thank you.

Ben Macpherson will understand that I believe that we should use the powers that we have and that we should be open to the fact that the whole economy should run in a different way, in order to benefit those in society who need the most from us.

I say again to the SNP and the Conservatives: think again. It is only when every child does well that we will all do well. There is enough wealth and resources to ensure bread and roses for everyone. What is lacking is the political will of Governments to make it happen. To not think like that is to let down those who have been impacted for decades by poor policy decisions and lack of radical thought.

I want to be clear from the outset that I deplore the Tory Government attacks on working-class people. The Tories are the friends of the rich and show no interest in redistributing wealth to those most in need. That was only reaffirmed by yesterday’s spring statement by the chancellor, which tinkers around the edges and fails to recognise the scale of the cost of living crisis, and instead puts more financial pressure on working families and makes it more difficult to alleviate the situation of children in poverty. Our children, our communities and the entire country deserve so much more.

However, as an MSP here in this chamber at this moment in time, it is my job to hold this Scottish Government to account, and I ask it to do more. I ask it whether it is doing absolutely everything that it can do to eradicate child poverty. I ask the back benchers whether, at every opportunity, they ask their front-bench members to do more.

Members should not just listen to me, but listen to the Trussell Trust and Save the Children and their report, “Tackling Child Poverty and Destitution”. I will give some consideration to the policies that they believe the Scottish Government needs to take forward to tackle child poverty targets.

Although a commitment to increase the Scottish child payment—after several months of intense pressure from Scottish Labour—is welcome, as is today’s announcement of an increase to £25 before the end of the year, I ask the Scottish Government to listen to us once again and double the Scottish child payment from £20 to £40 by April next year. I will go on to say why it should do that.

Amid a cost of living crisis for many, the likes of which we have never seen before, it is absolutely pivotal that those most in need are supported financially to put food on the table and ensure that, despite the difficulties placed on all of us by the pandemic and the immediate cost of living crisis, the Scottish Government’s child poverty targets are met. That is what we all want.

We know that the Scottish child payment contributes massively towards tackling child poverty, and it alleviates pressure on families in receipt of it, but we cannot ignore the fact that, even with the progress made, the payment’s roll-out has to be quicker and more effectively targeted, and the amount of the payment has to increase further. Although the Scottish Government has come forward with an optimistic prediction today, many organisations believe that failure to deliver that will likely lead to the Scottish Government’s failure to meet some of its child poverty targets. It is unacceptable to even take that chance.

If the Scottish Government is going to tackle child poverty properly, surely its priority must be to listen to the experts, work with precision and purpose, and deliver the changes needed to alleviate the barriers of poverty, which hinder so many children. I remind the Government that that starts by ending the incessant cuts to local government.

Scottish Labour’s plan to address this huge challenge is clear: increase the child payment, invest in local services, tackle the cost of living crisis, show ambition and show strategy for that ambition. I believe that the SNP-Green Government wants to do something about child poverty, but it is up to it to decide whether it will actually do everything that it can. Scottish Labour will always be on the side of working families and those living in poverty. Again, I say to SNP and Green back benchers: come and join us and call on the Scottish Government to use all the might of the Scottish Parliament in tackling the number 1 priority—to save thousands of children from the dire impact of poverty.

It is my view that the overarching priority of the Scottish Parliament should be to tackle, reduce and eradicate child poverty.

Child poverty is a huge challenge that faces our country. It limits opportunity for children in every town and deepens the inequalities that already exist in our society, from the second that the child is born. It should shame us all that child poverty remains as prevalent as it does in our country today. We stand in this chamber, week in and week out, discussing the modern, inclusive and progressive Scotland that we think exists when, in reality, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, between 2017 and 2020, almost one in four children were living in relative poverty and more than one in five children were living in absolute poverty. That is nothing short of a national disgrace and we must redouble our efforts to address it every day. Figures like that represent not just a number but a dark and difficult reality for so many children and their families across Scotland. It is unjust and unacceptable, and we in this chamber must do all that we can to fix it.

Therefore, we must look at the dilemma that faces parents today. They bring their children up in a Scotland where the richest continue to own the wealth, while those who are most deprived in our most deprived areas work on low wages in order to create that wealth. That is not a modern, inclusive or progressive Scotland; it is far from it. It is, in fact, representative of a Scotland that has two Governments—at Holyrood and Westminster—that are bereft of ideas and often focused on other matters. I say to the SNP and the Conservatives—think again, because it is only when every child does well that we will all do well.