First Minister hopefuls discuss mental health, maternity services and vaccinations in Highlands
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Healthcare was among the major topics at the Inverness Courier Leadership Debate.
Rates of suicide in the Highlands and lack of maternity services which mean many pregnant women travel to Inverness's Raigmore Hospital from Caithness and Moray were highlighted to First Minister hopefuls Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and health secretary Humza Yousaf.
- Watch the full debate here
- Did The Inverness Courier debate witness a major shift in the SNP leadership race?
- People of the Highlands and Moray question SNP candidates
Mental health support
Emily Stokes, CEO of Inverness-based mental health charity Mikeysline, asked the politicians: "Given that the Highlands have the highest suicide rate per capita in Scotland and that mental health support needs amongst all ages are at their highest, can you tell me what actions you will take to support the work of local mental health and suicide prevention support services in the Highlands?
Humza Yousaf said he was aware of the situation.
“First and foremost what we are trying to do is focusing on early intervention," he said. “We have to make sure we invest in counsellors, for example in schools.
“We need to make sure that people right across Scotland including in our rural communities, have access to those counselling services so they don’t just come to our door at crisis intervention.
“I also think we need to target a lot of our resource to young men and boys – it’s not to say the exclusion of young girls – but we know that suicide disproportionately is completed by men in this country.
“Thirdly, we need to make sure that we are getting into our rural communities – we need to make sure that all of the breathing spaces, all the good initiatives we have like Mind Your Mind and others are not just central belt focused or accessible to those who have good connectivity but accessible right across the country including our rural communities.”
Ash Regan also supported earlier intervention to avoid a situation reaching crisis point.
"We have seen many young people increasingly struggling with their mental health issues which is maybe to do with modern life and things like social media making people feel very pressured," she said.
“I’ve made a suggestion to have mental health support in schools so young people can have someone to talk about how to manage mental health crisis.”
Finance secretary Kate Forbes praised the "revolutionary" work of Mikeysline in the Highlands.
She added: “The figures in the Highlands is horrendous – in the Highlands for men it is double the UK average in terms of suicide rates.
“We need to make sure that we are meeting people where they need help and they can seek that help in a confidential space.
“The second thing is around waiting times so if someone has identified that they need help, if they are waiting months and months by then it is, often too late.
“So, I think it is about helping the people on the ground including Mikeysline and there is a point around funding there that I take on board.
“And ensuring that CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services] teams are fully staffed to deliver the service when it is required not several months later.”
Maternity services
Humza Yousaf admitted he wouldn't want his wife to have to travel the two hour-plus journey the vast majority of Caithness mums-to-be have to endure when they are in labour.
Only eight babies were born at the community midwifery unit at Caithness General Hospital during last year, compared to 202 Caithness mums who gave birth at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
"I know the statistics, and that’s why we’ve got a review of Caithness services," he said. "It’s not ideal – I would not want my wife to have to travel hours and hours when she was in labour, but this goes to my point. Remember this decision was taken because of a real tragedy."
He told the audience of around 200 people in Inverness that he had been to Caithness within the last few months to speak to some of the mothers.
"My promise and commitment to them is that first and foremost they and their families’ safety and the safety of their unborn child is paramount.
"The issue in Caithness happened because of the tragedy of a mother in Caithness losing her child, and therefore if we were to allow births to take place in Caithness we would be putting people at risk because we don’t have the workforce there."
Kate Forbes, who became a mother for the first time in August, said her journey to hospital in labour was 15 minutes and that "felt too far".
She said the situation facing mothers in Caithness was unacceptable and that a solution needed to be found.
"I can’t think of another colleague who can match Humza in terms of his compassion and his desire to solve problems but I think when it comes to this particular issue, I think it requires us to fundamentally rethink how the NHS operates," she told the crowd.
"It fundamentally requires us to ensure that we empower our front line because they are ultimately the people who are going to enable those women not to have to travel."
Ash Regan committed to looking into the problem, adding: "The situation is not good if you’re having to travel 110 miles in labour and I can imagine the stress on the mother and the father as well, wondering what might happen on the way."
Vaccinations
Dr Alastair Noble, from Nairn, highlighted concerns about Highland GPs not being able to do vaccinations, and asked whether they were ready “to be the leader that oversees the reintroduction of infectious diseases like polio and meningitis to infants in the Highlands?”
Humza Yousaf said there needs to be continued review of the system but defended the current rollout of the immunisation programme across Scotland saying that it has been “a great success”.
He said: “We’ve got a good model that has worked and we see the majority of the population vaccinated and by WHO’s own study has saved over 22,000 lives here in Scotland.
“The model can always be tweaked and should always be looked to see where we can improve it.
“There are of course models where GP clinics are used for vaccination and I’d be more than open to look again if that model needs tweaked.”
Kate Forbes said the issue was created by shared approach for all.
She said: “The model that works for GP practices in Glasgow just does not work for rural places in the Highlands and places like Nairn.
“It isn’t working in terms of one size fits all. It needs a fundamental review for how to ensure that GPs are able to deliver the services that they have been delivering for many many years successfully with the trust of patients in a way that actually works.
“Again, it comes to the approach of being decentralised because you can’t expect people to travel long distances to be able to access vaccinations – they might just not go.”
Ash Regan replied that she would not be ready to be the First Minister under which the diseases mentioned return.
