Continued Petitions

Our next petition is PE2031, which has been lodged by Maria Aitken on behalf of the Caithness Health Action Team. It calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to ensure that children and young people in Scotland who have type 1 diabetes and would benefit from a life-saving insulin pump are provided with one, no matter where they live.

I am reminded that that was a key issue in the very first session of Parliament in which I was elected, from 2007 to 2011; it is always intriguing to see how things develop. At that point, insulin pumps had just come on the scene, and we were very keen to have them made available through the NHS.

I welcome again Edward Mountain, who has remained with us since our earlier discussion on the A9 inquiry as he has an interest in this petition. I will invite him to say a few words in a moment.

The committee last considered the petition on 20 September 2023. At that time, we agreed to write to Diabetes Scotland, the Insulin Pump Awareness Group and the NHS regional health boards. The committee has received responses from eight of the 14 health boards, copies of which are included in our meeting papers.

A number of the responses refer to utilising additional Scottish Government funding to increase the number of children and young people who are accessing insulin pump therapy and the need for further Scottish Government funding to support on-going staffing and resource requirements that are now necessary to meet the demand for insulin pump therapy. It is also the case that, since the third session of Parliament, from 2007 to 2011, the incidence of diabetes has continued to increase dramatically within the population.

We have received a response from Diabetes Scotland that highlights the benefits of diabetes technology for people with type 1 diabetes, which include the improvement of blood sugar management and a reduced risk of complications such as stroke, eye damage and kidney disease. The response draws our attention to the “Diabetes Tech Can’t Wait” report, which Diabetes Scotland published in November last year. The report includes a number of recommendations to the Scottish Government and to health boards to support the faster roll-out of diabetes tech, with the aim of ensuring that 100 per cent of children and 70 per cent of adults living with type 1 diabetes are able to use hybrid closed-loop tech by 2030.

Before I invite the committee to share thoughts on how we might proceed, I invite Edward Mountain to comment.

Thank you, convener. At the outset, I highlight that Caithness Health Action Team strives hard to ensure that healthcare is delivered across the Highlands, but particularly in Caithness, from where it is more difficult for people to get to Raigmore and the centralised health service that is currently run by NHS Highland. There is no doubt that, up there, people feel isolated from that healthcare, as it can take at least an hour and a half under blue light, and probably two and a half hours under normal driving conditions, to get to it.

I remind the committee that, in 2023, extra money was given by the Scottish Government, and NHS Highland chose to use it for closed-loop therapy mainly for adults. Some money went to paediatric services, but there was a concentration on adults and, consequently, some children missed out. As the petitioner has made clear, there are approximately 25 children across the Highlands waiting for a diabetic insulin pump. My estimate of the cost of the pumps alone is about £75,000, which is not a huge amount of money, although there are some ancillary costs involved, as the convener has made clear: the costs are not only from the equipment but from the staff.

Providing the pumps would make a huge, huge difference to children as they come to terms with the diabetes that they must face, sometimes not fully understanding its effects. It would not require much additional money to ensure that all the children in the Highlands have insulin pumps. In fact, it would come at less than the cost of some of the administrative directors who sit on the board of NHS Highland. I therefore think that the committee could encourage NHS Highland to explain where the funding—the extra money that was given to the Government—went originally, why children were not made a priority and whether there are additional funds, with a mere £75,000 needed to provide pumps for all the children.

I will leave it to the committee, but I will just end by saying that it is difficult to overstate how remote people in the Highlands sometimes feel to healthcare, which is centralised. Giving people the ability to manage their own treatment would be truly revolutionary.

Are colleagues content to embrace Mr Mountain’s suggestion? Are there any other suggestions that the committee would like to add?

I see that we have a suggestion. It is not from a member of the committee, but I am delighted to see Clare Haughey with us this morning. I am happy to invite you to comment in any way, Clare.

I shall not wander round the room asking for party contributions, but I thank Clare Haughey for advising the committee of that. We will seek confirmation from the Government, as that points seems directly to add to our consideration of the issues that are raised in the petition. I suppose that we could prompt that by writing to the Scottish Government in response to Diabetes Scotland’s “Diabetes Tech Can’t Wait” report, asking what specific funding would support the statement that the minister has made. Are colleagues content to do that? I again thank Clare Haughey for drawing that ministerial answer to our attention.

We can certainly ask the Government to confirm the sustainability of any funding that it is making available.

Is there anything else? I do not want to make a dripping roast, saying yes and then having another thing sprung on me. Thank you, Mr Choudhury.

Are members content to incorporate those suggestions into the representation that we make?

Members indicated agreement.