Current Petitions

Why do you say that?

It was not me. I will try my best to be brief, but the issue is quite complex.I refer members to the letter of 16 March 2009 that the convener received from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. Let me quickly read out a paragraph that sums up the issue:"Turning to the funding arrangements currently in place for the provision of palliative care, as currently outlined in HDL (2003) 18, I have indicated previously that this remains a matter for discussion through the Scottish Hospices Forum".Following a meeting of the forum, the forum has basically said to St Margaret's, "You're on your own." That is not a good answer for St Margaret's because of the disparity that exists between St Margaret's and other hospices—the funding arrangements are out of kilter. In my view, it would be helpful if the committee supported the concept of the cabinet secretary having a meeting with people from St Margaret's to address the issue. If the forum cannot deal with the issue, someone else should, so the next port of call is probably the cabinet secretary.Another aspect that members will be aware of is the stay of execution that has been obtained for the 30 beds. St Margaret's is trying to have a meeting with the health board to discuss matters further, but the board is still of the opinion that St Margaret's should go to a place to which it cannot go because of the articles by which it was set up. A cross-party group of MSPs had arranged a meeting on the issue with the cabinet secretary but, unfortunately, that arrangement had to be stood down because of the swine flu outbreak. We certainly hope that our meeting will still take place. However, let me emphasise that, although word has gone out that St Margaret's in some way does not want to engage, St Margaret's is continually requesting to engage with the health board on the issues. Frankly, the sooner that happens, the better. Again, I think that the committee could be helpful in arranging that meeting, which St Margaret's has been looking for.

I have previously mentioned NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's behaviour with regard to meeting representatives of St Margaret's and, given what Gil Paterson has said, the points that I made then still seem to be relevant. If the health board is making it difficult for the hospice to meet and discuss its future, it is incumbent on the committee to write to the cabinet secretary to express its concern at the board's reluctance to have a meeting and to ask her to write to the health board, asking the chief executive and chair of the board to arrange a meeting as soon as possible and allow the issue to move forward. After all, if we cannot secure even a meeting between St Margaret's and the health board, we are failing everyone.