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Given the increased pressure on waiting times and in other areas in the NHS as a result of Covid-19, is it realistic to move towards greater preventative spend in the medium term? May I go to Leigh Johnston to answer that first, please?

Absolutely, and thank you both for those answers.

Dr Shari McDaid told us that

“if there is just a one-off training session in the trauma-informed approach, people will be expected to go back to their systems of working and try to remember what they learned during that one-off ... programme.”

They emphasised the need for “on-going reflection” and said:

“Embedding reflective practice is the next step that needs to accompany the training programmes and education in the trauma-informed approach.”—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 21 June 2022; c 31.]

What action is the Government taking to ensure that reflective practice accompanies trauma-informed training?

A lack of joined-up care has been highlighted to the committee, with some patients falling off the cliff edge once they have been discharged from services. For example, patients are not always connected with community care once they have been discharged from hospital. How can we ensure better links between acute and community care, and what role can link workers play in that regard?

Thank you, convener. In its submission, the Health and Social Care Alliance highlighted that people with long-term conditions have been particularly impacted by the deterioration in their health and wellbeing due to the cost of living crisis and because they have to use different healthcare aids and supports. What actions is the Government taking to support those people or give them access to support from other places, and to address those issues as a whole?

That is great.

Good morning to the panel. Last week at committee, I asked Dr Peter Cawston, of GPs at the Deep End, whether services are trauma informed. He highlighted that

“Tackling ... stigma involves every person who works in a health and social care setting ... having a better understanding of how trauma impacts throughout a person’s life, and how it affects ... behaviour.”—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 21 June 2022; c 30.]

He went on to say that, although trauma-informed training is more widely available, there is still much work to do.

What is the Government doing to promote the importance of services being trauma informed and to ensure that all health and care staff undergo trauma-informed training?

We have touched on various factors that might have stigma attached to them. In what ways, if any, do current working practices in health and other public services entrench stigma? Further to what you have said, what work needs to be done to address that at the heart of the services that we are talking about?

Good morning to the panel. To what extent are health services trauma informed? What improvements need to be made in that area? How do we ensure that all public services take a trauma-informed approach?

Thank you, convener, and my apologies for being late; there was an additional Parliamentary Bureau meeting that I had to attend. Given the time, I will ask my two questions together.

First, to what extent are health and care services taking a trauma-informed approach, and what improvements need to be made?

Secondly, we have heard this morning about interactions between income and poverty. In other evidence sessions, we have heard about how disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, asylum status, justice experience, being a carer and many other factors interact to present cumulative barriers. To what extent, in each of your areas, are health and care services equipped to take an intersectional person-centred approach?

Do witnesses have a view on whether universal basic income or a minimum income guarantee is an effective method of tackling health inequalities?