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 (Virtual)
Meeting date: 11 January 2022
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Thank you, convener. I could not agree more with the point about the need to fill the gap between universal and specialist care, but GPs like me struggle to know of all the organisations that are out there and all the forms of specialist care that are available. How can we ensure that people in primary care, health visitors and anyone else who might make referrals know that your organisations exist and can be accessed?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee (Virtual)
Meeting date: 11 January 2022
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Thank you, convener. I will go straight back to Jacquie Pepper. When we are teenagers, we do silly things. We have all made little mistakes and errors, but that is how we learn, so that when we become adults, we do not make the same errors. Teenagers have lost that opportunity. What do you think the impact will be on that age group?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee (Virtual)
Meeting date: 11 January 2022
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I am here and I hope that my connection keeps working.
We could spend the entire time that we have on the topic of Covid-19, but I know that time is short. At the start of the evidence session, we heard about the loss of socialising for kids and the loss of the ability—which we all had—to make mistakes and errors as children. We know that there has been a huge impact on all services. I know that this will be hard to answer. What impact will Covid have on our young people’s current and future development? What should we do to mitigate that? What services should we set up in the future? Those three questions go first to Heather Connolly and Jacquie Pepper.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
The more detailed table says that the distinction awards are
“designed to provide competitive remuneration packages for consultants and ensure we attract and retain the right calibre ... of employees”.
Without the distinction awards, how are we achieving that?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
NHS Ayrshire and Arran overspent on previous budgets, as have a number of health boards. It also looks like NHS Ayrshire and Arran requires significant transformational change, particularly in acute services. To me, that is a bit of a worry, given where we are at the moment.
My first question is: will you write off health boards’ previous budget overspends? My second question is: what is being done with regard to the significant transitional changes that are required in relation to NHS Ayrshire and Arran?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
I have looked through the details of the money that has been provided to boards, and it appears that the amount spent on distinction awards has come down. Are we still giving out new distinction awards or have they been phased out?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Would you be looking to write off a proportion of the debt that the health boards have accrued?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association said in her evidence to us,
“Given that culture is free, why is sport not free?”—[Official Report, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, 30 November 2021; c 32.]
Do you accept that the cost of facilities can be a major barrier to participation? In hoping that you do accept that, I also ask what measures could be put in place to address it.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
There are many research, cancer and other databases that Scotland does not have but that England does. If we were to combine and work together, we would have a much larger and much improved pool of data. For example, there is the fracture liaison service database, which we do not have in Scotland. It makes sense to me to join these things together and have a big database. Will that approach encourage more shared databases and more shared work between our nations?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 14 December 2021
Dr. Sandesh Gulhane
We know that mental health deteriorated across the United Kingdom during the pandemic, and especially during the lockdown. We also know that perinatal mental health issues have been presenting difficulties for women in Scotland and that they were doing so even before the pandemic. Those issues range from stigma to women not having a dedicated mother and baby ward that they can go to.
My questions are focused on women from ethnic backgrounds. What impact has Covid had expressly on those from ethnic backgrounds? Given that further restrictions are possibly on the horizon, what learning have we done to prevent the same issues from arising again?