The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 445 contributions
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 29 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
This Government continues to design and deliver services with urban areas in mind. The way in which training is delivered does not work for those who live in rural Scotland. It forces them from their communities to access training, which means that we are ignoring a potential workforce, and we know that those who leave to access training very seldom return.
In the Highlands and Islands, we have high levels of consultant vacancies—per 100,000 people, NHS Western Isles has 41 vacancies, NHS Shetland has 37 and NHS Highland has 30—and that mismanagement leads to eye-watering locum costs.
It is difficult to attract staff to rural areas because the training does not equip trainees with the skills that they need for rural practice. Training is based on superspecialism and working in teams that see a conveyor belt of patients, whereas people in rural practice need different skills, such as self-reliance and a breadth of knowledge. Depth of knowledge is valued more highly in pay and status, and breadth of knowledge is not recognised. That is true not only of consultants but in all other health careers. To be frank, I am not sure that that approach works for anyone, because diagnosis can take much longer under the system that we are pursuing.
Superspecialism also leads to centralisation, because a specialist needs a huge cohort of patients with very specific conditions in order to keep their skills honed. Patients need to travel, which comes at a huge personal and financial cost.
Social care is also suffering from staff shortages. Between March 2022 and April 2024, five independent sector care homes closed in Highland. During that period, the public sector acquired a care home that was in administration in order to prevent its closure and a further loss of bed provision. That meant that, at the end of April 2022, in-house and external social care services in Highland were able to provide 14,497 hours of care between them each week. By the end of February 2024, that had reduced to 13,423 hours, which represents a decrease of 1,074 hours in just two years even though demand has actually increased. That is placing pressure on hard-working staff, who are leaving for better-paid jobs that lead to less burn-out.
At the same time, people who experience delayed discharge in NHS Highland are delayed by an average of 88 days. One patient experienced a delay of four years and 147 days. Such cases are heartbreaking for the people who are involved. What hope is there for frailty teams where there is no alternative to hospital?
When it comes to attracting staff, there are complex issues to consider, such as housing, facilities and services. I have spoken to those in the chamber again and again—and, sadly, I will no doubt return to them—but I will not go into them today.
Previous solutions have had very little impact. What has been the impact of the national centre for remote and rural health and care? What are the outcomes? What has it done? I also note that ScotGEM has provided only two GPs since 2016. I feel that those projects are diversions to take attention away from failures and that they do nothing. We know that urban healthcare is in crisis, but rural healthcare is always lagging behind. We need both of them to improve and we need a degree of equality in service provision throughout Scotland.
16:27Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
Thank you, Presiding Officer. My contribution will be very short. We looked at microchipping registers during stage 2, and the consensus was that it was better carried out on a UK-wide basis, but I support Maurice Golden’s amendments. I recognise that microchipping can be used to trace dog ownership and is a tool that can be used to identify and discourage illegal puppy farms. Those breeders do not have the welfare of dogs at heart, and they exploit potential buyers.
If Maurice Golden’s amendments are agreed to, it would put the onus on the buyer to ensure that the dogs are microchipped on purchase. That might go a long way to deal with dog theft and puppy farming, so I support the amendments.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
I congratulate Christine Grahame on introducing this member’s bill. Throughout her career, she has fought to improve animal welfare, and the bill is testament to that. I thank all those who helped to bring the bill to the Parliament and who gave evidence. The frustration, as always with a member’s bill, is that the levers that are available to the Government are not available to members. There are many things that we would have liked to have seen in the bill that are not there.
The bill will give prospective buyers a pause, so that they can reflect on the issues that are in the code. For reasonable, law-abiding people, that may lead them to change their mind on dog ownership or, indeed, on whether the breed of dog that they are seeking to own is practical for them, but will it stop them buying from puppy farmers? Few would chose to do that, but will they step back if they are faced with a seller who does not appear to be legitimate? As happens now, they might not. I do not think that the certificate would be enough to dissuade them.
We all know of people who, in good faith, have sought to buy a dog, and when it became clear that they were not buying from a reputable breeder, most will admit that they bought the dog regardless. The alternative would have been for them to leave the dog in the ownership of a seller who obviously did not care about the dog’s welfare, and they could not bring themselves to do that. There are many sad stories of people who acquire dogs in that way, paying dearly for their pet and paying yet again for the vet fees to try to restore their animal’s health. I hope that the publicity campaign on the bill encourages people to walk away from those sales. Although that appears to be cruel in the short term, it is the only way to stop the illegal puppy trade.
At stage 2, there were a number of amendments on microchipping registers. At the time, the Scottish Government undertook to work with the UK Government on the issue, because it was preferable to have a UK-wide microchipping register. There are a number of privately administered registers, and it is not always clear to a buyer whether a dog has indeed been microchipped, and the registers can be complex to update. It would be helpful to have a UK-wide register that would allow people to check the previous ownership of their pet. A single register would also make it easier to find puppy farmers and put them out of business. I know that that is not as simple as it sounds, given the number of private companies that are involved. However, I would welcome an update on progress and possible solutions when the minister sums up.
The bill is worthy, but, like every member’s bill, it is restricted because it does not have the power of the Government behind it. I urge the Government to look at the issues that were raised during the bill’s passage and to consider providing solutions to protect animal welfare and to stop the illegal trade in puppies.
17:40Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
I have. Let me try again.
That does not appear to have worked.
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 23 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
The First Minister will be aware of the eye-watering increases in haulage costs for perishable food to businesses in Uist. In some cases, prices have increased by 120 per cent, stopping some food supplies within the islands. Press reports state that DFDS has already engaged with the Scottish Government about the issue. What is the outcome of that engagement? Will the First Minister act to protect consumers in Uist? Will he now stop the 10 per cent ferry fare increase to the islands?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 22 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
Last month, the Parliament passed legislation to restrict calving intervals to 410 days to qualify for support, having been reassured by the minister that the force majeure clause would deal with issues such as weather and ferry cancellations. However, the Scottish Government guidance remains unchanged and quotes circumstances such as severe natural disasters to qualify. The minister will be aware that ferry cancellations are all too common, and the news that CalMac Ferries has said that it can no longer carry livestock on ferry journeys lasting more than three hours without a transport authorisation licence will simply make matters worse.
Will the minister now put on record the circumstances in which force majeure will come into play, giving my constituents the reassurance that they require to stay in the cattle industry?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 22 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
To ask the Scottish Government how it is dealing with delayed discharge from hospitals in the Highlands and Islands. (S6O-04229)
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 22 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
Since 2022, Highland Council has lost 161 care home places, due to eight care homes closing. On top of that, care at home has declined significantly, which increases delayed discharge. Last October, NHS Highland reported that it had to reduce delayed discharge by 65 per cent just to meet national targets. What interventions are being put in place that are specifically tailored to the Highlands and Islands to provide more care places and packages so as to meet that challenge?
Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 16 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
I agree that a human rights-based approach to budgeting must be taken at all levels to meet people’s human rights. That was clear from the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s report.
I return to the issue of gynaecological services and maternity care in rural areas. It is unacceptable that mothers are having to travel 100 miles to give birth when they are in middle of labour. That is surely not a human rights-based approach. The situation is even worse when the roads are blocked.
Hospitals and services in the Highlands and Islands have been impacted by budget cuts. The Caithness health review is on hold, as is NHS Highland and NHS Grampian’s joint maternity redesign. We have had more positive news about the Belford, but the go-ahead for the replacement hospital has been given only for the planning and design stage. The planning and design stage for the new hospital on Barra was completed, but then the project was unceremoniously dropped by the Scottish Government. That provides cold comfort to the people of Lochaber in the context of the Belford, who must keep up the pressure for their hospital. In relation to Barra, the Scottish Government must reinstate its commitment to the Castlebay campus and provide people with the hospital that they need. I could cite many other issues.
I know that we are tight for time, but I want to turn to the Government-initiated Scottish graduate entry medicine programme. Although it aims to boost rural GP numbers, it has delivered only two trainee doctors in the Highlands since 2016. We know that allied health professionals are not available, so people cannot access services that are no longer provided by GPs. We need a review to be carried out of the GP contract, and we need that to be done with a vision for rural areas in mind. I urge the Government to do that as soon as possible.
17:27Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]
Meeting date: 16 January 2025
Rhoda Grant
I, too, start by paying tribute to Laura Hansler, who lodged the petition and has worked for so long to get improvements on the A9. I thank the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee for its report, which shines a light on the broken promises and the mismanagement of the project to dual the whole A9. The Scottish Government kept repeating a promise that it knew would never be kept, and the lack of transparency and honesty with the public and the Parliament was breathtaking. Because of that, the committee has recommended a duty of candour. This must never happen again. We must have regular updates on progress and timelines so that we cannot be hoodwinked for decades.
The committee recommends that there should be a committee with the sole responsibility of oversight of major projects. That was the case for the Queensferry crossing and it is surely good enough for the A9.