Chamber and committees

Everything that we are talking about sounds fantastic with regard to the data that GPs are holding and everyone being fully integrated and so on. However, the fact is that the GP systems—Vision and EMIS—do not talk to each other at the moment; there is no data integration between the two. I realise that I am straddling two themes with this question, but what can be done immediately to allow GPs to access data from another GP data source?

On the point about data being poorly collected, NHS Lothian’s ethnicity recording went from 3 per cent to 90 per cent over three years. The point about linkage to the CHI number goes back to Emma Harper’s point about data collection fatigue when people are asked about ethnicity on multiple occasions. Surely the way to ensure that all ethnicity data is captured is to ask the question once and link the information to a person’s CHI, which goes through everything.

Once we capture ethnicity data, we must be absolutely sure that we can use that data, when someone presents, to work out symptoms and how we should manage and treat them. For example, a person of black descent with high blood pressure should be started on a calcium channel blocker rather than an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. Ethnicity makes a huge difference to how we treat people.

I have a question for Christopher Wroath and perhaps Steve Baguley. Does the NHS, including primary and secondary care, have the appropriate hardware and broadband speeds to access the digital platform, cloud sharing and all the wonderful innovations that we are looking to introduce?

Hospital at home was first introduced in NHS Lanarkshire in 2011. It has had great results. In March 2020, Jeane Freeman announced £1 million of funding for the programme. Why, 10 years after hospital at home was first introduced and a year after £1 million was invested, do 10 health boards not have adequate hospital at home resources to prevent admissions?

The target has not been achieved since 2017. Through the amazing adaptations and digital appointments that have been offered through the Covid pandemic, there has been an increase to 82.7 per cent of people being seen within 18 weeks. Covid is not the reason why we are missing the target, so how could we improve access to psychological therapies and address the fact that we have not hit the HEAT target since 2017?

Good morning, minister. I declare an interest as a practising NHS doctor.

The health improvement, efficiency and governance, access and treatment—HEAT—target for starting psychological therapy is 18 weeks after referral. Psychological therapy is vital in dealing with patients who have mental health issues. When was the last time the HEAT target was achieved?

In your first answer to me, you asked me to talk to people on the front line. Yesterday, I was a GP talking to patients and staff on the front line.

In 2017, we were promised 250 link workers by the end of the parliamentary session in 2021. That was backed by evidence given to this committee in 2019. As of a Scottish Government publication in October 2021, only 218 link workers are in post. Most concerningly, there are no link workers in Aberdeenshire, Forth Valley, Midlothian, north Highland and the Western Isles. Why are those five areas without link workers? We are all aware of the vital role that they play.

It is difficult to direct this question to one particular person. Given how desperate the nursing situation is, what would be a realistic timeframe for recruiting people from other countries and getting them into the workforce?

Good morning, minister.

My question is in two parts, and is about ensuring that children get good-quality food in school. What standards are in place to ensure that children get good-quality food and that there is not an unhealthy option that is always taken up? What is being done to ensure that the areas around schools maintain healthy eating areas?

I am glad to hear that one of the aims is to get cars off the road. One of the big problems is with commuting to work, because the traffic means that everyone just sits there.

I will use the Queen Elizabeth university hospital as an example of a greater issue that exists around Scotland. Public transport to get people to the hospital is not good enough. There are no cycle lanes for people to use to get to the hospital, and there are no shower facilities for people who cycle in.

How can we ensure that other places around Scotland have the infrastructure that is required to stop people driving into work? How can we help big hospitals such as the Queen Elizabeth university hospital?