Chamber and committees

I am interested in social prescribing, too. The question is how we signpost folk to some of the services that exist. In this inquiry, we have focused on helping people signpost patients to additional third sector services using a local information service for Scotland—ALISS—which is the Government-funded local information system. At our previous meeting, we also heard about the resource that the Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations Council provides and the DG locator service in Dumfries and Galloway.

I am interested in hearing how we can enhance and give better support to ALISS and in considering how we direct people to mental health services. We have seen the benefits of men’s sheds, walking football, walking groups and other social groups that the third sector can help to direct people to. How do we support ALISS in signposting people?

I have a quick supplementary question. I understand that community link workers will be required to carry out different duties, depending on where they are working in a local authority or health board area. According to a freedom of information request that has been published on the Government’s website, there were 218 link workers in post at the end of March 2021.

I know that there has been a pandemic for two years, and that is why some of the data might not be as up to date as we would like, but there is a projected total of 323 link workers by March 2022. I am interested to hear the cabinet secretary’s thoughts on that. I reinforce the point that link workers might be doing different things across different health boards, and we should support the health boards to know their own area and to support their GP practices, whether they be rural or urban.

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?