Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Good morning, everybody. I am interested in what the public know about social prescribing. There are a few papers out there that say that social prescribing has been around for years, but we have started to have more dialogue about it. We know its value, especially during the initial lockdown in the pandemic, and especially for addressing mental health and social isolation and in relation to befriending.

I know of two local projects in Dumfries and Galloway: the Listening Ear project in Stranraer and a project by the Dumfries and Galloway third sector. What is your understanding of the public’s knowledge of social prescribing as a pathway for treatment, not just for men’s sheds or mental health. What do the public understand about social prescribing?

My question is kind of about what Alison Leitch and Christiana Melam said. I am interested in the barriers to people to picking up a social prescribing pathway. Alison talked about people seeing a GP first and then having one, two or three further visits in order to be enticed into joining a walking group, visiting a men’s shed or participating in the Listening Ear programme. Under the community empowerment legislation, community asset transfer has enabled communities to get together to create community hubs and centres and to feel empowered, which has helped. What are the barriers to people saying, “Okay, I will do this,” instead of seeing their GP again and again? What is the particular thing that prevents people from progressing?

I am interested in how we are communicating what services are available. I have asked questions about ALISS in previous evidence sessions. This morning, we heard about an equivalent tool that is used in Edinburgh called the red book, one in Dumfries and Galloway that is called DG locator and a mental health tool in the Borders that is called SPRING. How are we communicating their availability more widely to people who can direct care? How are we helping people to understand that ALISS exists?

Yes.

Alison Leitch.

I have a quick question for Scott Henderson. I know that, during the pandemic, pulmonary rehabilitation was starting to be delivered digitally, and the evidence suggests that such an approach works, especially given that these folk are vulnerable and might not want a face-to-face appointment. Moreover, I know—because I am co-convener of the cross-party group on lung health, which has done a lot of work on the matter—that there is also remote monitoring of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. What are your thoughts on that kind of remote monitoring? Do you think that pulmonary rehabilitation, for instance, could be delivered more widely in that way?

I have a final, short question for Christiana Melam. How can we raise awareness that link workers exist?

Did use of ALISS increase during the first lockdown phase of the pandemic? The alliance has shown that use of ALISS increased in 2021, and I was just wondering whether Covid had an impact in that respect.

Moreover, are we tracking who is using it? Is it being used by link workers or others? At last week’s meeting, we were told by Optometry Scotland and Community Pharmacy Scotland that they had not heard of ALISS, but their members also spend a lot of time with patients. After all, an eye examination can take up to half an hour. Who is using the system?

Yes. It is just a quick question.

In one of my local areas, one of the manager leads of all the GP practices knows about ALISS, so his GP practices know about it; however, they said that it might not be as up to date as it should be. I am aware of some general practitioners who know about ALISS, although Dr Gulhane’s point about not knowing any GPs who access it is probably quite important.

It is about raising awareness, and linking to make it work better. For instance, the DG locator, which is run by the third sector in Dumfries and Galloway, is working on collaborating with the GP practices to direct them more towards ALISS and other services. That would involve asking what we need in order to make ALISS work better, apart from just money.