Chamber and committees

Regarding the workforce, and the provision of education, I know that there are online learning programmes, including the Royal College of General Practitioners perinatal mental health toolkit. As a vaccinator, I am still accessing the Turas learning models; I did a quick check of the perinatal mental health modules and there are seven specific modules, one of which is on stigma. How do we track those modules and the uptake? Who is taking up those modules? Is it midwives, psychologists or GPs? I think that they are fabulous modules. How do we encourage our healthcare professionals to take up the e-learning modules and how can we monitor that?

The minister mentioned stigma in his opening comments and took a question from Sandesh Gulhane about it, so I will not labour the matter. However, I know that the Government is doing a lot of work to address concerns and raise public awareness around perinatal mental health. One of the issues that is being addressed is concern that mothers might have their children taken away from them. There are 12 action items in the perinatal and infant mental health programme board delivery plan. Will the minister elaborate a wee bit on specific actions that are being taken to tackle stigma?

It is distressing to hear about what is happening in relation to access for support to deal with bereavement and stillbirth. I had a thought about new Scots who come here and end up going through NHS Scotland. What work is being done, or needs to be done, to support new Scots whose first language is not English and who have babies in our country?

Yes—without family networks to support them.

The Mental Health Foundation recommends in its submission that

“the development of perinatal mental health services be equality-proofed”

to reduce the social inequalities that may prevent pregnant and postnatal women from experiencing good mental health. Where do you think the gaps are in the delivery of perinatal mental health, especially in relation to at-risk or vulnerable women.

Good morning, everybody.

We have heard some really interesting responses so far. Dr Chopra touched a wee bit on training. I am interested in what training is available, what training is being delivered, and what barriers, if any, there are to training. My understanding is that there is a Royal College of General Practitioners perinatal mental health toolkit. Information has also been produced by NES, and there are re-learning modules. I know that the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale is used to assess women once they have delivered a baby. There seems to be so much information out there, so how is it being delivered to health professionals—midwives, GPs and other practitioners?

What you have said about education in work time is really important. I probably need to remind everybody that I was a clinical educator before I was an MSP, and provided education to midwives.

It is important that we offer education in work time. Would providing education directly in the workplace, and not expecting people to do continuing professional development away from their workplace, also support retention of the workforce, which you previously mentioned?

Thank you, convener. I will be as quick as possible.

This is a question for David Ferguson. It is about how we can use our infrastructure to meet our climate change, net zero and biodiversity targets. I am talking about issues such as having access to green space, 20-minute neighbourhoods and so on. When I lived in California, we got points for car pooling and walking or cycling. There was a scheme whereby those points could be exchanged for movie tickets, which was great in Los Angeles. That was a good way of getting outside and getting active. However, I do not know whether we have car pooling or car sharing or walking or cycling incentive schemes in Scotland. Do we need to provide such schemes?

I am also thinking about the e-bike revolution. How do we make e-bikes less expensive? Do we need to do more to encourage uptake of e-bikes? I know that the Scottish Government has an e-bike grant fund. In 2019-20, £273,000 was given out and more than 100 e-bikes were provided. So far, more than 600 e-bikes have been provided through that scheme. How do we use our infrastructure to support our net zero targets?

Sure. In the previous session of Parliament, the Health and Sport Committee, of which I was a member, held an inquiry into the subject, and its report was called “Social prescribing: physical activity is an investment, not a cost”. We gathered evidence and held sessions around that.

My question is for David Ferguson, who asked what further evidence we need in order to do more to support social prescribing programmes. I know that there are general practices that do a fantastic job in signposting people, but community link workers would help to play a part in that. Do you have any reflections on the Health and Sport Committee’s report and how it can feed in to develop further evidence about the benefits of social prescribing of physical activity?

We have seen a massive uptake of e-bikes and cargo bikes. Even Michael Matheson, who is the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport, has an e-bike. What more should be done to encourage folk to get out and use their e-bikes?