Chamber and committees

I should probably remind everybody that I am a former NHS Dumfries and Galloway employee and am still a registered nurse. I should have said that at the start.

Healthcare is so wide ranging that there is loads that we could cover today. I am interested in community pharmacy, which is valuable, and pharmacy first is amazing. The feedback that I have had from community pharmacies is that they sometimes feel undervalued in their work. I am interested to know whether data has been gathered on pathways for referral to pharmacy first and whether pathways are appropriate.

Community pharmacies can be great at things such as checking inhaler technique or checking that people who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma have the right inhaler, which helps to keep them out of hospital. That is a matter of people having the right inhaler and the right technique for them.

Community pharmacies should be valued, but do we track whether appropriate referrals are made?

Sometimes, people might not be aware of it, so they might go to the emergency department instead of phoning 111, because they just assume they will not be able to communicate. If we make people more aware of the fact that there is this interpreting ability with 111, that is a good thing.

Good morning. Thanks for coming today. You mentioned the IVR—the interactive voice response. People whose first or preferred language isnae English can phone up. Do you monitor how many calls are made by people whose first language isnae English or Scots? I am reading here that there is the ability to interpret Polish, Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish, Romanian, Süryani and Ukrainian. Do you monitor how many calls are made by people whose first language isnae English?

We have talked a lot about distress brief interventions, breathing space and the mental health hub, and we know that a lot of work has been done to reduce stigma around mental health so that people feel that it is okay to reach out. How has Covid impacted the work to direct people to breathing space, DBIs and the mental health hub?

Can I ask a final question, convener?

I am thinking about liaison with not just the police but the fire service. I am sure that that is part of on-going work. I am also interested in the work that is done to engage with people who use drugs and alcohol harmfully, and to reduce the stigma. Are tackling or addressing stigma and the language that we use part of the continuing professional development that is provided for Scottish Ambulance Service staff?

I will wait and bring the issue up later, because I think that it will be worth a letter. It concerns maternity services and delivering babies in ambulances in rural areas, for instance. I can pick that up later.

Does NHS 24 use a local information system for Scotland—ALISS—to direct folk to third sector organisations that provide help and support with regard to mental health issues, for instance? Is using ALISS or directing people to local third sector services using whatever apps are available locally part of the upstreaming and downstreaming plan?

Good morning. You mentioned falls earlier. I am just looking at the “Our 2030 Strategy” document, which says that 12 per cent of ambulance call-outs are for somebody who has fallen, so there is work being done to look at that. However, 10 per cent of call-outs are for patients with respiratory difficulties such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—COPD—exacerbation. As a co-convener of the cross-party group on lung health, I am interested in what work is being done to help to support the respiratory patients, for instance, because they might need not an admission but a referral to an onward pathway for better management of their COPD.