Current Petitions

I would be grateful for that opportunity. Thank you for the invitation.Although the genesis of the petition was in relation to St Margaret’s hospice, there are two general parts to the petition: funding for hospices rather than just for St Margaret’s hospice; and continuing care for frail elderly people throughout Scotland. I want the committee to take that point on board before I start.The petition is a long-running one, which I am grateful for in many ways. The committee’s work on the petition has helped to focus attention on it, and I hope that it will bring about a conclusion that satisfies most people if not everybody.At present, a contract is in the hands of St Margaret’s hospice on the petition’s two issues. There is also an offer from the health board for a meeting to go through the contract, but I am not at liberty to say what the issues are. This may sound odd, but I have not read it, so I do not know its entire contents. I believe that the meeting between the health board and the hospice on the issues in the contract is imminent.If the committee will indulge me a little further, I repeat that it has been extremely helpful to have this as a live petition. The dialogue that I indicated will take place soon, so I feel that it would be premature at this stage to close the petition. I know that the committee has been patient; I think that this is the 13th time since 2007 that I have been to a meeting that has discussed it. However, I do not think that that has been a waste of the committee’s time. I ask the committee to be a bit more patient and to continue the petition, because I think that that would be helpful to the petitioners and to the health board. I hope that I will soon be able to take a different approach when I speak to the committee.

Gil, you said that a meeting with the health board is imminent but that you are not at liberty to say what the meeting is about. Can you give us a date for it?

I cannot give you a date, because one of the main players is not in the country at the moment. However, the meeting is imminent. As to the issues that are in the contract, they are exactly the items that the petitioners brought to the committee. I know that they are part of the contract.I cannot give you an exact date for the meeting, but I am fairly certain that it will be soon.

I think that I have been to all 13 meetings that Gil Paterson has attended on the petition. It has been an interesting petition and I am glad that I have been able to follow it through. The petition has had a number of ups and downs regarding the dialogue with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on the initial decisions that it made and the lack of consultation, discussion and co-ordination with St Margaret’s hospice on what was being delivered in the area.As time has shown, certain decisions that the health board wanted to implement have fallen through and we are back to a situation in which St Margaret’s hospice is providing most of the care to which Mr Paterson referred. I support his suggestion that we keep the petition open slightly longer, for several reasons, one of which is the on-going discussions between the hospice and the health board. In addition, there are the on-going discussions between the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy and hospice providers throughout Scotland. One of the issues that have come through from the petition is the disparity between different health boards’ funding for the hospice sector in their area. I would like us to get a report back from the cabinet secretary on her discussions and on whether there is any movement on funding provision for hospices throughout Scotland such that we will see an end to the apparent disparity between health boards. I suggest that we ask the cabinet secretary to give us a report on the discussions and on other issues that may arise for hospice provision in the long term, but particularly for St Margaret’s hospice.

I did not realise that there have been 13 discussions on the petition—that is an unfortunate number. During my short time as a member of the committee, I have learned that petitions can go on and on unless a decision is made. Gil Paterson asked members to continue their consideration. I know that you cannot give a specific date for the meeting that you mentioned, but are we talking about weeks or months?

I am pretty certain that it is weeks rather than months.

This is actually the 15th time that the petition has been considered in the committee, which demonstrates the importance of the situation. We must acknowledge that the hospice serves not just Clydebank but the west of Scotland. It provides an excellent service and does a good job. If we are talking about weeks, I support John Wilson’s suggestion that we keep the petition open until we have more information.

I thank the committee, again.