Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning and welcome to the 16th meeting in 2024 of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I have received no apologies. Ivan McKee has now resigned his position as a member of the committee, and James Dornan is joining us remotely as a substitute.

The first item on our agenda is to decide whether to take items 7, 8, 9 and 11 in private. Do members agree to take those items in private?

Members indicated agreement.

We need to move on.

Other members of the committee would also find that detail helpful.

The second item is an evidence session with the cabinet secretary and supporting officials as part of our inquiry into healthcare in remote and rural areas. I welcome Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care; Stephen Lea-Ross, who is the deputy director of health workforce planning and development at the Scottish Government; and Paula Speirs, who is the deputy chief operating officer of NHS Scotland.

Before we begin, I invite the deputy convener to say a few words about the committee’s visit to Skye last week as part of the inquiry.

Thank you very much, deputy convener.

We move straight to questions. Cabinet secretary, I want to focus initially on the national centre for remote and rural health and care that was launched last October. When the then Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care wrote to the committee, he said:

“I have been clear that the Centre must focus on deliverables and impact”.

To what extent in the development of the centre has the focus been not only on strategy development but on actions, delivery and that impact?

Sandesh Gulhane has a supplementary question.

Does Mr Torrance have any further questions?

I thank the panel for their attendance today. Next week, the committee will undertake stage 2 proceedings for the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill.

That concludes the public part of our meeting.

Thank you. Sandesh Gulhane wishes to speak.

To answer a difficult and complex question, we need to look at what has got us to this point. The historical issue is that those less-represented voices were not heard and the women who were raising issues about medications and medical devices such as mesh were not listened to or were dismissed.

I will turn the question around. If we do not have a patient safety commissioner, how will we ensure that those patient voices are heard and that those concerns are responded to promptly and are believed? What is the cost not only financially but emotionally and physically of not listening early to those people who say that there are issues and that we need to change how things are prescribed or how treatments are actioned?