Petition PE756, by Dr Federica Warnock, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Executive to review the provision of maternity services for Scotland's island and rural communities to ensure that the quality of services and current staffing levels are retained. The petitioners are concerned about the possible effects of proposals to reduce staffing levels at Lorn and Islands district general hospital maternity unit from a 24-hour on-duty service to a 12-hour on-duty and 12-hour on-call service.In March 2004, the committee formally referred PE718, which also called for a review of the provision of maternity services for Scotland's island and rural communities, and PE689, on the availability of consultant-led maternity services, to the Health Committee for further consideration. In April, the Health Committee agreed to include the issues raised in PE718 and PE689 in its inquiry into work-force planning for NHS professions in Scotland and agreed to conclude its consideration of the petitions on that basis. Do members have views on what we should do with this petition?
Official Report · Committee
New Petitions
Maternity Services (Island and Rural Communities) (PE756)
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- Michael McMahon Lab 6
- Carolyn Leckie SSP 4
- Helen Eadie Lab 1
- Jackie Baillie Lab 1
- Linda Fabiani SNP 1
The record
13 contributionsWe should refer it to the Health Committee. I serve on the Health Committee, which visited the Western Isles a month or so ago and has considered the issues that impact on the matter that is raised in the petition. I am sure that my colleagues in the Health Committee will take seriously the issue that is raised in PE756 as we make progress with our inquiry. Members of the Health Committee are seriously concerned about how the health service can cope with the various demands that are placed on it across Scotland.
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I was particularly concerned about Argyll and Clyde's review of maternity services, one consequence of which is the problem that this petition highlights. It is appropriate to send the petition to the Health Committee as it is dealing with the issue, which is part of a wider pattern of changes to health services that local people and many of us in the Parliament find it difficult to come to terms with. A closer examination of the issue would be helpful.
I agree with all of that. I refer to our earlier discussion about whether to send PE748 to a committee or the Executive. I am concerned about the fact that the changes are proceeding rapidly and we are about to go into recess. I wonder whether it might be a good idea to draw the attention of the Executive to the issue that the petition deals with and to ask for its comments. The move from a 24-hour on-duty service to a 12-hour on-duty and 12-hour on-call service could quite well take place before the Health Committee is able to investigate the issue. I know that this committee is not supposed to deal with specific cases, but I think that this petition adds to a pile of evidence that we have that maternity services, in particular, are struggling. That problem will become more acute over the recess, which leads me to suggest that we should do what we did with the earlier petition and send PE756 to the Executive to ask for a response before sending it to the Health Committee.
My only concern is that we cannot consider the specifics of the closure or the changes that have been made at one particular hospital. We have to view the matter in the context of the overall—
The context is the wider issues that affect work-force planning, particularly in maternity services. Those issues are becoming acute. The problems need to be addressed through long-term investigation, and we should be considering the provision of services across the whole of Scotland.
I take the point. Previous petitions have raised general concerns. We have referred them to the Executive, we have received responses from it and we have referred the petitions to the Health Committee. The best thing to do with the petition might be to refer it to the Health Committee for it to add to what it is already considering. The petition will highlight the specifics of the individual hospital concerned, which the Health Committee can take on board.
Can we copy our correspondence to the Executive?
I do not think that there would be any harm in doing so, for the Executive's information.
That would ensure that the situation is brought to the Executive's attention sooner rather than later.
Yes. That is fine.
Although I agree with what Carolyn Leckie has been saying, I can see the potential difficulties and the precedent that what she has suggested would set. I suspect that individual MSPs covering the area concerned will already have written about the issue, so the Executive should be aware of it. Perhaps we could check that informally.
There is no harm in our sending the petition to the Executive to make it aware of the matter, but it would be for the Health Committee to add it to the inquiry that it has initiated and to look into the issues that the petition raises. Are members happy that we do that?Members indicated agreement.
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