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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 2 April 2025
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Displaying 1148 contributions

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Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Food Standards Scotland

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Emma Harper

Picking up on Gillian Mackay’s point, I have been a type 1 diabetic since I was 12 years old, so I have been counting carbs since I was a wean. There are apps that can be used to look at that. It is not just about salt and sugar; it is about high-glucose-index versus low-glucose-index carbs. It is really complicated. Does Food Standards Scotland have, or would you look at having, digital support directly on your website to support the downloading of apps, for instance, so that folk such as Gillian and me could use diabetes dose adjustment for normal eating, which helps all type 1s to count carbs? That would be useful. Could Food Standards Scotland look at delivering that digitally?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Food Standards Scotland

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Emma Harper

Thank you. Talking of evidence and stuff like that, last week I was at a Quality Meat Scotland event in the Scottish Parliament, which was sponsored by Jim Fairlie MSP. Professor Alice Stanton gave a presentation on red meat. The red meat supply chain generates more than £2 billion annually for the Scottish economy. Professor Stanton, who is a cardiovascular pharmacologist from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, presented information to counter what has been published in The Lancet on what people’s red meat intake should be in a day—70g, which is two slices of roast meat or two sausages. She said that the information in The Lancet did not meet the criteria for proper scrutiny under the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses—PRISMA—guidelines, which relate to the global burden of disease. She suggested that the standard recommendation—70g of meat per day—which is repeated by everyone, had not been adequately researched.

Is Food Standards Scotland aware of Professor Alice Stanton’s information? Does it mean that the recommendations for red meat consumption need to be revised?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Food Standards Scotland

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Emma Harper

You talked about different local authorities and how they engage. Some local authorities are looking to sign up to the Plant Based Treaty and are talking about taking meat away from schools and care homes. Is that something that you are aware of? Would you endorse that? We have just talked about red meat and how the evidence base shows that people are required to have it as part of a balanced diet. Are you concerned about the Plant Based Treaty?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Independent Review into Racism in Scottish Cricket

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Emma Harper

You mentioned Sporting Equals. What role does it have in the process?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Food Standards Scotland

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Emma Harper

Thank you.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Petitions

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

Emma Harper

Cabinet secretary, you will be aware that I have written to you on a few occasions about specific issues in remote and rural Dumfries and Galloway, such as those in Stranraer. I appreciate your responses, so thank you for those.

I am interested in the centre for excellence for remote and rural health and social care. Sir Lewis talked about education, innovation and collaboration. I am interested in whether the centre will have a role to advocate for people in remote and rural areas, because those folk cannae access the self-help groups and the people who are in urban areas. I know that people use Zoom and so on to engage, so is there a place in the centre for excellence for advocacy to be supported or delivered? I know that Australia has a National Rural Health Commissioner. I am interested in those aspects of the centre for excellence.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Petitions

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

Emma Harper

My question is related to Sandesh Gulhane’s questions about Caithness and Moray and Dr Gray’s hospital. There is the same issue in Stranraer. I hate to go on about it, but women are delivering their babies at the side of the road. There are real recruitment challenges for Dumfries and Galloway in finding midwives for a midwife-led maternity unit at Galloway community hospital. I am not advocating that we start doing emergency caesarean sections—as a former operating room nurse, I have been there, taking babies out of people by crash section in a rush, so I am not advocating that we start doing that in Stranraer, for instance. I know that Maree Todd visited Stranraer in October last year to engage with the local Galloway community hospital action group and to visit the hospital.

The cabinet secretary does not have to respond to this today, but I know that there are real challenges in relation to midwifery-led units, and I am interested in getting an update on the work that is being done with NHS Dumfries and Galloway around maternity services being reinstated at Stranraer.

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

Emma Harper

It seems reasonable that the order provides the GDC and the NMC with greater flexibility to amend their existing international registration pathways. I know that there are challenges with regard to access to NHS dentistry, especially in my region of Dumfries and Galloway. Will the order ultimately help us with recruitment of dentists and dental practitioners, especially with regard to the issues that are a consequence of Brexit?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Petitions

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

Emma Harper

I have a quick question on education and skills. The mobile skills unit was developed in order to deliver education in more rural areas. A big lorry-sized van provides simulated training for chest tube insertions or even intraosseous needle insertions, for example, and I know that it has been all over Scotland. Is there an opportunity to focus more on that kind of education delivery in remote and rural areas, using the managed skills network or the clinical skills network?

Health, Social Care and Sport Committee

Petitions

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

Emma Harper

I am thinking about the need for an advocacy role because we have been looking at cancer pathways for more than 20 years. People from Stranraer, for example, go to Edinburgh for radiotherapy. That trip is 140 miles compared with 87.2 miles to go to Glasgow. That is an issue if we want to support people getting their care closer to home.

People in Dumfries and Galloway go to the South East Scotland Cancer Network, but nowhere in that region is in the south-east of Scotland. Are there opportunities to look at the cancer pathways to ensure that people in Stranraer go to Glasgow instead of travelling 140 miles to Edinburgh?