Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you very much, deputy convener.

We move straight to questions. Cabinet secretary, I want to focus initially on the national centre for remote and rural health and care that was launched last October. When the then Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care wrote to the committee, he said:

“I have been clear that the Centre must focus on deliverables and impact”.

To what extent in the development of the centre has the focus been not only on strategy development but on actions, delivery and that impact?

Sandesh Gulhane has a supplementary question.

Does Mr Torrance have any further questions?

I thank the panel for their attendance today. Next week, the committee will undertake stage 2 proceedings for the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

Thank you. Sandesh Gulhane wishes to speak.

Certainly, it is absolutely key to ensure that the complex landscape that we have for patient safety is pulled together, that the public has trust and confidence in the healthcare that is provided, that they are listened to and that their concerns are responded to. However, from the written and oral evidence that we received, and from the previous report, we can see that that is not the case. That has to be remedied, and having a commissioner in place to pull all of that together is one remedy for that.

The committee considered the evidence that was put in front of it, and the overwhelming evidence from stakeholder and stakeholder groups was that they supported the commissioner. In terms of exploration of other models, I can again write to this committee if that was explored more widely. As I said, I was not the convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee at the time that it took evidence, so I certainly was not privy to any of the private discussions. I have seen only the public papers and the report recommending that the general principles of that bill be approved.

Thank you very much, convener, for inviting me along this morning. I apologise for not being able to be there in person.

It is important to note where the idea of a patient safety commissioner came from: it came from the United Kingdom-wide independent medicines and medical devices safety review, more commonly known as the Cumberlege review, which looked at the issues around mesh, sodium valproate and Primodos. It highlighted that patients did not feel that they had been listened to as well as the length of time that it took for their problems to be acknowledged.

One of the review’s nine recommendations was that a patient safety commissioner be appointed as an independent public leader with a statutory responsibility, to champion listening to patients, promoting service users’ perspectives and seeking improvements to patient safety with regard to the use of medicines and medical devices. As a direct consequence, the Patient Safety Commissioner for England and Wales was appointed in September 2022.

I was not a member of the committee when it took evidence on the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill, but I know that it had the advantage of being able to seek guidance and information from the commissioner for England and Wales. The Scottish Government also gave a commitment to implementing all the recommendations from the review, including the creation of a patient safety commissioner for Scotland, which was done via primary legislation.

It is fair to acknowledge that, in Scotland, the regulatory landscape around patient safety was already complex prior to the bill. Some of the issues that Audrey Nicoll has highlighted were also considered by my committee, but members felt that the role had the potential to improve patient safety across health services in Scotland and ultimately supported the bill’s general principles at stage 1.

You are absolutely right. We have to ensure that positive outcomes come from the creation of any commissioner. I welcome this inquiry, given the number of commissioners and proposed commissioners. There has to be evaluation.

The patient safety commissioner will lay before Parliament a report annually. That does not preclude them from doing that in relation to other investigations that they carry out or other areas that they investigate.

It is really important that we ensure that, with all commissioners, there is value for money and that the roles that they carry out are not duplicated, there is not unnecessary overlap, and there is collaboration between them so that resources are used effectively. If commissioners have good working relationships, the duplication of work should be reduced.

In case I strayed into any issues this morning that might raise this as a concern, I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that I hold an NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde bank staff nurse contract. I have nothing else to add, and I thank you for the opportunity to contribute today.