18th May, 2015

A&E pressures

When confronted with bad news governments can often be guilty of quickly drawing up a short-term fix to avert any criticism and hope it will all go away.

Over two years ago in response to the growing pressures on A&E departments the Scottish Government hastily announced funding and an action plan that they said would relieve the problem.

However, last week new figures were released which show that things haven’t got any better.

At Inverclyde Royal Hospital the A&E target that 95% of patients are seen within 4 hours was breached on over 5,000 occasions since the government made its announcement.

In one instance an elderly patient had to wait over 17 hours before being treated.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been surprisingly frank as to the reasons for the huge number of breaches.

They said that our hospitals are busy and getting busier. Doctors are performing more surgical procedures than before. Record numbers of patients are being admitted to hospital as emergency cases.

And at the other end, many patients are waiting too long in hospital beds for an appropriate care setting.

It’s clear in light of these developments that sticking plasters simply won’t do.

We need a whole system approach that not only addresses the pressures on our hospitals but also ensures there are more places in the community so that people can be cared for in or close to their own homes.

We can’t simply announce funding for our hospitals and leave out the social care sector.

As the Royal College of Emergency Nursing recently said we must allow for real planning and not simply the handling of short-term pressures.

It’s through a whole system approach we can prevent people from going into hospital unnecessarily or being there a minute longer than they need be.

27^th April, 2014

Crime at a record low?

In the last year, I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have raised serious concerns about the levels of crime in the area.

One said that in his area violent crime had shot up. Others have pointed to an increase in drunk and disorderly behaviour and the spates of vandalism.

It is accounts such as these that raise doubts in my mind about the continuous claims made by the Scottish Government that crime is at an all-time low.

My concerns have been reinforced by a number of stories in recent times that crime figures have been manipulated, coming from none another than serving police officers.

Just last week, for example, a national newspaper reported that figures were being kept lower by marking crimes as “incidents”. In 2013/14, 273,053, crimes were recorded north of the border, but over two million incidents were logged by the police.

If these stories are true, we would need a thorough investigation to find out the full scale of the problem.

Police Scotland’s role should always be to protect the public, not to act in the interests of a Scottish Government press release.

It is important to remember, that the police and the Scottish Government allocate resources on the basis of crime statistics.

If they are saying that crime is at a 40 year low, and this turns out not to be the case, it means that communities here in Inverclyde, that are experiencing high levels of crime, might not get the support they need.

I would keen to year views on this issue and whether or not you feel crime has gone up or down. So please feel free to contact me at duncan.mcneil.msp@scottish.parliament.uk.

11^th May, 2015

Re-building trust

Last week, the Labour Party was humbled across the country. There’s no getting away from it.

It was a brutal night in which a number of senior Labour figures lost their seats, including my friend Iain McKenzie who was a conscientious, hardworking Member of Parliament who in a short period of time, made a significant impact locally and in Westminster.

And while I’m very sad to see Iain go, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Ronnie Cowan the new MP for Inverclyde. I certainly won’t be extending my congratulations to David Cameron and the dire prospect of another five years of Tory Government.

When I first joined the Labour Party and subsequently stood for the Scottish Parliament, I did so, because of the party’s commitment to social justice, its belief in common endeavour, and its drive to re-distribute the wealth so that all people, whatever their background, had a fair chance.

While last week’s result is very difficult for Labour, I believe that these values are still relevant today.

They have led to the to the creation of so many things which are woven throughout the fabric of our society such as our National Health Service and the Welfare State, and that ultimately established our status as the people’s party.

However, Labour has not always met the high expectations of the communities we serve. We must get back to basics, re-engage and reconnect with the people of Scotland.

We must campaign and act on the issues that matter to them including the huge inequality which exists, whereby your postcode can determine, your life expectancy, prosperity and education.

The party has a big task ahead of it. But I believe that by re-building trust, bit by bit, day by day, month by month and year by year we can become the people’s party again.

4^th May, 2015

Delays

Conventional wisdom dictates that prior to an election governments should focus on the good news and avoid potential bad news like the plague.

The current SNP Government has been particularly adept at this. The failure to release its oil and gas bulletin, which would tell us how much Scotland would expect to receive from North Sea oil revenues in the years ahead, is a case in point.

It’s for this reason that a number of recent developments locally have given me cause for concern.

Just over a month ago, news got out that we will not know the successful bidder for the new CalMac vessel for the Ardrossan to Brodick route until after the election.

The announcement was originally due to be made at the end of March and Ferguson’s Shipyard was one of those bidding strongly. The response I received on Thursday regarding the delay from Transport Minister Derek MacKay, gives no grounds for optimism.

Further to this, it’s been over two months since NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde recommended to the Scottish Government that Inverclyde should receive funding to replace Greenock’s crumbling Health Centre, and it has still not confirmed its support.

And finally, three weeks after writing to Health Minister Shona Robson, I have yet to receive a detailed response regarding the delays in building a replacement for the Ravenscraig Hospital.

I sincerely hope all of this is just a mere coincidence and nothing to do with bad news being avoided due to the election being just around the corner.

The people of Inverclyde deserve straight answers and the fair share of funding that would help boost the economy and address some of the huge health challenges we face locally.

Governments need to be judged not on what they promise just before an election but the action they take in between elections.

20^th April, 2015

Future for the IRH?

Inverclyde Royal Hospital is over 35 years old. Therefore, one would expect that the building would be experiencing some wear and tear.

But I’m sure many of you would be surprised to learn that IRH requires a £44 million repair bill to bring it up to an acceptable condition. This would appear to be the highest repair bill of any hospital in the entire country.

Interestingly, the bill has more than doubled in value since the Greenock Telegraphfirst reported on the hospital’s deteriorating condition over three years ago.

The revelation came to light recently when the Scottish Government published an analysis of the performance of the whole NHS estate.

Understandably, the local community will be left wondering why we have got to a stage where the hospital has fallen into such a state of disrepair.

It will also raise questions in peoples’ minds about the long term sustainability of the building and the impact this will have on staff and patients.

The news comes on top of the failing conditions of our local health centres’ and the unacceptable delay in the replacement of Ravenscraig Hospital.

Given the huge health challenges we face locally, including a rising elderly population, the citizens of Inverclyde deserve the best health facilities available and the funding that would make this possible from NHSGreaterGlasgow and Clyde and the Scottish Government.

And while I acknowledge the recent upgrade to IRH’s Accident and Emergency Department, it would seem we have a long way to go tobring the whole building up to scratch.

I will be writing to both the Health Board and the Scottish Government to seek assurances that they are doing all they can to ensure there is a long-term future for the building and to arrange a meeting to discuss their immediate plans to address the backlog.

Monday 13^th April, 2015

Supporting Carers

Carers fulfil a vital role in our society looking after those in need of help, but too often they go without the support they need.

While it can be a rewarding experience, I have met with many constituents over the years who say that caring can also result in financial hardship, health problems and emotional stress as they try to juggle all the other responsibilities that life brings.

This is why the Scottish Government has proposed it’s Carers (Scotland) Bill which aims to improve the support currently available to the 8,000 carers here in Inverclyde and the hundreds of thousands that exist across the country.

Given that there are now more people than ever before who are caring intensively, for more hours each week, the government is proposing that local authorities carry out assessments to identify if people have the full support they need in relation to the person they are looking after.

Furthermore, it wants to give carers a greater say in the planning, shaping and delivery of services they use so that they better reflect their needs.

The Parliament’s Health and Sports Committee which I convene has just recently issued a call for views as it begins scrutiny of the Bill and we are keen to hear directly from both young and adult carers.

Do you support the Bill? How do you feel it could be strengthened? Is there anything that you would add or remove from the Bill? These are just some of the questions we are asking.

To read more about the proposed legislation and to submit your views, then please visit the Health Committee’s page on the Scottish Parliament’s website at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk

I hope that as a result of this process together we can make life better for carers and those who they care for.

Monday 6^th April, 2015

Searching questions for Police Scotland

Last Wednesday marked the second anniversary since the formation of Police Scotland. But this was not a day of celebration for its Chief Constable, Sir Stephen House.

Instead, a damning report landed on his desk regarding the force’s mishandling of stop and search.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, which provides independent scrutiny of policing, launched its review of the practice, following reports that it was being inappropriately applied and that some figures were being manipulated.

The findings would not have made light reading for Sir Stephen. The inspection body stated that it did not have confidence in stop and search data held by the police. It found little evidence between the use of stop and search and reductions in crime. And police officers raised concerns that a target culture was encouraging negative behaviours. The list could go on.

This is just the latest in a long line of controversies that have dogged Police Scotland including counter closures such as that in Port Glasgow and Gourock, the arming of police officers and concerns about the lack of accountability.

While stop and search has its role to play, the message coming from officers is that it should be targeted at the “right people, in the right place, at the right time”.

Given that four thousand stop and searches were conducted in Inverclyde in August and September of last year, some will conclude that this isn’t happening.

Police officers should be allowed to focus on what they do best and the reason they joined the force, which is to protect the public, not to meet artificial targets.

It’s high time that Sir Stephen asked himself some searching questions, to learn from the mistakes of the last two years and to uphold the public’s faith in policing.

29^th March 2015

Road to Recovery?

It is often said that information is the key. This is particularly the case when holding governments to account for their policies.

The problem with Government is that sometimes good quality data, statistics and analysis are hard to come by.

The methadone programme is a case in point.  When the Government launched its programme as part of its alternative drug strategy announced in 2009, it stated that the central goal of treatment must be to enable people to become drug-free.

However, six years on, and we are none the wiser as to how many people on the programme have come off drugs. We also have little detail as to how long users have been taking the heroin substitute, and what progress they are making towards recovery.

This is despite news last week that in 2013 seventeen million pounds had been spent on prescribing methadone to people suffering from drug misuse, with six hundred thousand spent in Inverclyde alone.

The absence of any clear evidence on outcomes has led Dr Neil McKeganey, from the Centre for Drug Misuse Research, to claim that the programme is literally a black hole into which people are disappearing.

His comments come a year and a half after a major review into opioid replacement therapies raised concerns that basic information seemed impossible to access.

It’s simply not good enough for governments to announce a major policy shift or funding and hope that this in itself will solve the problem. They need to follow through with proper analysis and data collection to ensure we have a full picture of the outcomes of any policies they introduce.

We also need a cultural shift at the heart of government which leads to a climate where tough questions are asked and which will allow for proper scrutiny and accountability.

Monday 22^nd March 2015

ACTION NEEDED ON LOW PAY

Where there is the political will, change can be achieved. And one issue where change is needed more than ever is poor pay.

This was the subject of Parliamentary debate last week and is a big issue for people here in Inverclyde.

It is estimated that nearly twenty per cent of local residents are income deprived and statistics published last October revealed that seven thousand jobs in the area pay less than the Living Wage.

Action is needed in this area for two main reasons. First, fair pay has an important role to play in lifting people out of in-work poverty.

As it stands, the combination of low wages, job uncertainty and a huge rise in the cost of living are making it extremely difficult for people to get by.

Second, it is a vital ingredient for creating a stronger economy. Better pay helps to motivate the workforce and increase productivity in the workplace.

Talking about change is easy, but actually making it happen is the tough part.

Above all else there needs to be a redistribution of the wealth in Scotland through progressive taxation. A recent study found that the richest 10% of households in Scotland have 900 times the accumulated wealth of the poorest 10%.

We also need to ensure that all workers on public contracts are paid the Living Wage. The Scottish Government has the power to achieve this but it has failed to do so up to now.

Politicians in Scotland and in England have a moral duty to act. We can abdicate responsibility, turn our backs and let the plight of working people go on.

Or we can show the political will and create change so that people in Scotland get a fair days pay for a day’s work.

Monday 16^th March 2015

FAILINGS IN ELDERLY CARE

Seeing our parents growing old and frail can cause us all a little anxiety. But when that moment comes when they have to be admitted to hospital can be the most worrying time of all.

So it is with concern that last week, yet another organisation issued a warning about the failings in elderly care. This time it was the turn of the Royal College of Nursing.

Their analysis of Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s inspection reports has found hospitals falling short of the recognised standards time and again.

These include failures to assess patients for dementia, to check to see if they are at risk of becoming undernourished and a failure to ensure their specific care needs are met.

The findings have caused the nursing union sufficient concern that they have now issued an amber warning to health boards.

Inverclyde Royal Hospital has not been immune from the problems highlighted by the RCN. Indeed, it recently emerged that one patient at IRH had to wait four days after admission before being assessed for risk of malnutrition and that personalised care plans were not in place to support staff in addressing patients needs.

As I have said in the past on this issue, we need an independent inspection body with enforcement powers so it can take action against health boards who consistently fail to meet the standards.

Moreover, health boards must stop seeing the inspections as an event. Rather, they need to be pro-active, learn from the inspections and put in place measures to improve the experience of patients.

In other words, as the RCN put it, “improvement and scrutiny need to go hand in hand to drive up quality care.” If we don’t make these changes quickly, we could soon see the nursing union’s amber warning turning to red.