Seòmar agus comataidhean

I have no further questions, convener, because, in her opening statement, the minister answered the ones that I was going to ask.

Good morning and welcome to the fourth meeting of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in 2024. Our convener, Jackson Carlaw, is unable to attend the meeting today and sends his apologies, as he is attending the funeral of his constituent, a Holocaust survivor, Henry Wuga.

The first item on the agenda is a decision on taking items 4 and 5 in private. Item 4 relates to consideration of the evidence that we are about to hear on petition PE1933, and item 5 relates to consideration of the committee’s work programme. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

The next item is the consideration of continued petitions. First, we have an evidence session on PE1933, on allowing Fornethy survivors to access Scotland’s redress scheme, which was lodged by Iris Tinto, on behalf of the Fornethy Survivors Group.

I understand that members of the survivors group have joined us in the public gallery this morning—a warm welcome to you all. As we have a very busy public gallery, I remind all those joining us this morning that you are welcome to observe the proceedings. However, you are asked to keep the noise to a minimum and not to seek to interrupt the consideration of the petition.

The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to widen access to Scotland’s redress scheme to allow Fornethy survivors to seek redress. We last considered the petition at our meeting on 3 May 2023, when we agreed to invite the Deputy First Minister to give evidence, and I am pleased to welcome the Deputy First Minister, Shona Robison, to the committee this morning. We are also joined by Scottish Government officials Lyndsay Wilson, unit head of policy and communications, redress relations and response division; and Barry McCaffrey, lawyer, Scottish Government legal directorate, children, education, rights incorporation and disclosure division.

Before I invite the Deputy First Minister to make some brief opening remarks, I note that, since we last considered the petition, there has been a members’ business debate on justice for Fornethy survivors. The Scottish Government also appointed an independent researcher to make inquiries in respect of Fornethy house. The committee has been provided with a copy of the researcher’s report, which is now available on the petition webpage.

The committee has also received two new submissions from the petitioner commenting on the parliamentary debate and detailing on-going challenges in engaging with the redress scheme, highlighting the response that one survivor received that the decision panel would likely disregard their placement at Fornethy when considering the application for redress. We have also received a submission from Professor Diane McAdie, the researcher who was appointed by the Fornethy Survivors Group, providing further information on the operation of Fornethy house and potential options for amending the existing eligibility criteria for the redress scheme.

Having provided that update on where we are, I now invite the Deputy First Minister to give a brief statement.

Are you aware of the reasons why the Fornethy survivors did not engage with the independent researcher? Do you have a sense of whether that has impacted on the findings and the research?

Fergus Ewing, do you have any further questions?

I call Martin Whitfield to make a short statement. We are really pushed for time.

Before we bring this session to a close, Deputy First Minister, is there anything that we have not covered that you would like to put on record?

Thank you for your evidence.

I suspend the meeting for a short break and to allow the witnesses to leave.

Welcome back, everyone. Our next continued petition, PE1865, which was lodged by Roseanna Clarkin and Lauren McDougall, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to suspend the use of all surgical mesh and fixation devices while a review of all surgical procedures that use polyester, polypropylene or titanium is carried out and guidelines for the surgical use of mesh are established

We last considered the petition at our meeting on 14 June 2023, when we agreed to write to the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health and the British Hernia Society. As with previous considerations of the petition, we are joined by Katy Clark MSP. In addition, Clare Adamson MSP joins us remotely.

We have received a submission from Katy Clark with further details of the freedom of information responses on the number of patients readmitted following complications with surgical mesh that were referred to during our previous consideration.

The response from the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health tells us that there is subspecialist coverage in complex hernia repair, including non-mesh repair, operating in NHS Lothian, NHS Fife and NHS Grampian, with a further subspecialist based at the NHS Golden Jubilee national hospital.

The minister also provided an update on the development and implementation of the scan for safety programme, and indicated that further options for improved data collection, such as a registry of hernia repair procedures, are also being looked at by Government officials and their national health service colleagues. Reference was also made to OK to Ask, which is a public awareness campaign that aims to support patients and healthcare professionals having positive conversations about care and treatment.

We have a response from the British Hernia Society stating that it cannot support the suspension of all surgical mesh and fixation devices, as that would run counter to the best scientific evidence guidelines that have been published by the European Hernia Society. The British Hernia Society recognises the need to improve patient outcomes and offers information on the work that is being done to develop the hernia registry, which it hopes to roll out nationally this year.

We have also received submissions from the petitioners, which respond to the British Hernia Society’s submission and highlight that the improved patient pathways that the minister referred to has not led to improvements in the everyday experience of mesh patients so far. They are also concerned that little progress is being made to bridge the skills gap between natural tissue repair and mesh repair, and have highlighted a number of surgeons around the world who are developing their own non-mesh hernia repair techniques.

One of the petitioners, Roseanna Clarkin, has also shared her experience of mesh-related complications and the barriers faced when requesting non-mesh repair.

Members will also be aware that, since our previous consideration of the petition, Parliament has passed the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Bill. That legislation will enable the establishment of a commissioner to advocate for systemic improvements in the safety of healthcare and to promote the importance of the views of patients and other members of the public in relation to the safety of health care.

I ask Katy Clark to put her submissions to the committee.

I thank Katy Clark MSP and Clare Adamson MSP for their statements. Members, do you have any comments or suggestions for action?