Chamber and committees

Okay. Thank you. That is helpful.

Jaki Lambert mentioned that midwives are very much part of the multidisciplinary teams in Argyll and Bute. Can you give us a flavour of what that means for pregnant women?

Are there challenges? Michael Dickson spoke about Shetland. There could be a more compact area with a health board, a local authority and a health and social care partnership—I appreciate that there is space between the islands. Perhaps there is more of a challenge in getting the services in the Highland area. You have spoken about NHS Highland in Inverness and the IJB in Argyll and Bute. Are there challenges in innovating and recruiting with that?

We speak about urban policies being implemented in remote, rural and island communities. Would you say that the challenge is not necessarily in policies from Glasgow or Edinburgh, but is sometimes in trying to apply policies from Inverness or Fort William?

Jaki Lambert mentioned remote and island areas being far removed from health boards. Do you want to say a little more about that?

Thank you. That is helpful.

Convener, I think that I have covered my questions.

Thank you, convener, and forgive my mind blank earlier. I did have another question to ask.

I suppose that this question will be for Dawn MacDonald and Nicola Gordon, but I want to ask about palliative care. What planning is happening or should be happening in that respect, given the changing demographic in our rural areas? You talked earlier about how communities are getting older, and I have previously asked witnesses about individuals having choice with regard to where they will be cared for.

Do you have any thoughts on that, Dawn?

Thank you.

Thank you. That is helpful.

What solutions should we be considering to address the challenge of the scarcity of specialist staff? We have heard from previous panels about increased home visits and long travelling distances for staff members.

Michael Dickson is catching my eye.