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What is the role of a physician associate in primary care?

Potentially. I suppose that the question is about getting that knowledge into communities that traditionally do not have it, so that they are better informed and are able to champion their own health.

I, too, will pick up on Ruth Maguire’s point about menopause. Being a GP, I am lucky enough to go to multiple different practices. In my experience—although Ruth said that she does not like us giving examples—people in the better-off areas in which I work know about menopause. They come in, having done some reading and thought about it, and having decided that it is likely that that is what is going on. We then have a discussion about menopause, whether it is an appropriate diagnosis and what treatments may be appropriate.

Those from more deprived areas do not come in like that. I have not seen a huge shift in terms of women in deprived areas coming in with more knowledge about menopause. You said earlier that menopause is now more spoken of, but is that what we are seeing? Is that happening in better-off areas rather than in deprived areas? If that is the case, how do we get the message to those women in deprived areas?

Sorry—forgive me, but a lot of women will not present because they are not aware that it could be menopause and that that is something that we could very easily treat.

I will ask about alcohol services. When the committee put out a call for views, some of the biggest respondents talked about alcohol services. Obviously, you will be aware—as everyone is—of the large number of alcohol deaths in Scotland. What increases or improvements have there been in alcohol services in rural areas?

I am sorry, but can I pick you up on that? What if there were, say, a vaccine delivery system that lots of GPs in the Highlands would like to take on, but the health board said that they were not allowed to? Are you saying that they would be allowed to deliver that vaccine programme?

From “Women’s Health Plan”, it seems that there are very large poverty-related disparities in breast and cervical screening rates. Why do you think that is, and what work is being done or can be done to ensure that we even that up?

My final question about physician associates is really important. If you look at some material that is coming out, physician associates are talking about being GPs. Undifferentiated patients are being seen by physician associates, who, although they have a degree and two years of training, do not have what a senior nurse, such as an advanced nurse practitioner, who has done many years to be at the point where they are seeing someone, would have.

With the difficulty in recruiting in rural areas, are we in danger of seeing a two-tier health service, where compared to people in better-off areas, people who live in rural or deprived areas are more likely to see a physician associate than to see a general practitioner?

I just want to take this opportunity to say how important it is for people to take up their screening offers. It really does save lives and makes a big difference.

In the past few years, maternity services in Caithness and Wishaw have been downgraded, while Dr Gray’s in Elgin is still waiting for its consultant-led maternity services to be restored. Are you concerned about the management of maternity services in Scotland? Do you think that they would not have been downgraded and had those problems if it was a men-only issue?

Are you concerned about—