The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 1019 contributions
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I declare my interest as a practising NHS GP.
Professor Glasier, it is great to see you. Women’s health is something that we need to talk about more. We need to ensure that more than 50 per cent of our population has equality. With that in mind, why is it that we do not seem to have women’s health and equality running through our NHS in the way that we would hope it should?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Not necessarily.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I am sorry. Forgive me, but I am asking specifically about rural areas. What is there in rural areas to help people with alcohol addiction issues specifically?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Absolutely. It would be great if you could let us know what is available and what increases and improvements have been made in respect of alcohol services. If you could do that for each year, including information on alcohol brief interventions, beds that are potentially available for people who want to detox and waiting times, that would be fantastic. Thank you.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Absolutely—I could not agree more. Although vaping is safer than smoking, it is still not safe, but I have to wonder whether a lot of people think that it is.
The Prime Minister has spoken about wanting to prevent 14-year-olds from smoking in the future, which is something that I strongly support. Should we be looking to introduce such an approach for vaping?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
My final question is for Dr Reid. My big concern is that there seems to be a subgenre of vaping, in which people like to see huge clouds going out into the air. There might also be lights on the products. I am also concerned about the effect on people walking past shops, which Gillian Mackay talked about. I have walked past a sweet shop where vapes are sold—or, at least, where vapes are put next to the sweets. I do not think that a smoker will necessarily want to go into a sweet shop to buy their vapes, but should we be absolutely clamping down on such approaches? If we want vapes to be there for people to stop smoking—that is, as a smoking cessation aid—why do we need to have all the other factors that I have just described?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I have a question for Sheila Duffy from ASH Scotland. If you were to vape where you are sitting right now, you would be advised that you were not allowed to do so, but you would not actually be breaking the law. Should we bring in regulation that puts tobacco and vapes in the same piece of legislation, so that we would categorise vaping in the same way in law?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
My question was specifically about legislation. Should we put vaping on the same level as cigarettes and tobacco in legislation?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I declare an interest as a practising NHS GP.
I have a couple of quick questions. I have listened to what has been said, and my question, which is for Professor Britton, is: do you think that vaping is safe?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 7 November 2023
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
When MUP was introduced, Buckfast sales surged by 40 per cent. There were also increases in sales of Mad Dog 20/20 and Dragon Soop. Those drinks are all associated with heavier drinking and antisocial behaviour. Why do you think there were increases in the sales of those types of product?