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I thank the panel for joining us today. I will ask you exactly the same question that I asked the first panel. We in primary care do not have the ability to call a code black and say that there is far too much pressure; a GP partner’s workload is unlimited. What are you doing to mitigate that and enable GPs to do more for patients than simply firefight and provide the basics?

I turn to my final question. Recent statistics show that 820,000 Scots are on a waiting list. That leads to pressures not only on GPs, because people will come back to their GP, but on A and E departments, because everyone cannot get the help that they need from their GP, so they start going to A and E and the cycle continues, which makes things far worse. What are you doing to ensure that patients are seen in a more timely manner when it comes to referrals?

I will ask the same question that I asked the first panel. I and other GPs find it very difficult when a patient, after going to an A and E department at the weekend, turns up and says, “Oh, someone in A and E asked me to come and see you”, because I will have no idea why if I have not received a document from the A and E department. Our systems do not communicate with one another efficiently. What are you doing now to ensure that we have consistent good messaging between us, given that we have been talking about this for an awfully long time?

Okay. There is ongoing work, but it has been going on for a decade plus, and we are not there yet. The interface between all our different areas is dangerous; that includes primary care and specialties.

I ask about this all the time. In other countries, repeat prescriptions can be done automatically for GPs. If we had that here, it would mean that I, as a GP, would not have to sit and sign a thick stack of prescriptions that I do not really have time to read, but just have to get on with. When will we have repeat prescriptions done in that manner?

Thank you, convener.

Good morning, and thank you for coming in for our first meeting of the new term. My first question is directed at Nicky Connor and Pamela Milliken, if that is okay. As we saw last year, when it comes to winter planning the focus is on what is going on in accident and emergency departments and hospitals. However, in primary care, general practitioners cannot call a code black and say that they are overwhelmed and that it is impossible to do what they are doing safely. I was at work during the summer, when it was almost like that. When I was on call, I was doing things at a speed that was not overly safe, but things had to be done that way because that is how we got through the number of patients who were needing help. What plans do you have in place for primary care come the winter?

Like Emma Harper, I should have said this at the start: I am a practising NHS general practitioner.

Cabinet secretary, we have a worldwide issue when it comes to medicine. We have shortages of all kinds of medicines; at the moment, the biggest shortage that I face in my practice is of dihydrocodeine and paracetamol together. What are we doing to create a smoother path for medicines, especially when it comes to the way that we prescribe and what happens in pharmacies if there is a shortage?

I am glad that you mentioned NHS Lothian, because there are some real issues with its acute mental health services. Patients have been lying on mattresses on the floor, because a unit that was designed for 105 patients has been coping with 129. There are no low-secure mental health facilities available in Lothian, even though there is going to be a big expansion in the number of people coming to Lothian. A proper rehabilitation facility and an essential low-secure unit will cost somewhere between £33 million and £61 million, while the cost of doing nothing is around £360,000; that also creates an issue for patients, who are being scattered around the country. Is the Government looking to help secure investments in capital projects such as this much-needed one in Lothian?

Thank you.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. The Scottish Government’s report, “A Scotland for the future: The opportunities and challenges of Scotland’s changing population” highlights that

“An ageing population, with an increasing number of our ‘oldest old’ citizens, has the potential to transform our population’s health and care needs.”

That situation is particularly prevalent for islands. What is the Scottish Government doing to address the issue of population decline in parts of rural Scotland and the islands? How does that work feed into, in particular, recruitment issues there?

At my practice, one of the biggest issues that I face with redesign involves repeat prescriptions. We do not have electronic prescribing yet. When do you expect that to happen?