I congratulate Tim Eagle on his maiden speech today.

I also welcome the Cabinet secretary’s statement that he will be listening to the voices of health users and of those in the workforce. I hope that that also means those on the front line of our health services, because when I spend time speaking to front-line health and social care workers, it is clear that they often feel as though nobody listens to them, whether that is those further up the tree in the management of the NHS and the integration joint boards or, indeed, whether that is politicians.

Alex Cole-Hamilton talked about the NHS and health and social care being in crisis. Those on the front line face that crisis every day. It is right that we in the Parliament should unite to thank those who are delivering health and social care services. They are under such immense pressure, but if we speak to anyone who uses those services—this is certainly my experience—they are full of praise for the dedication, the commitment and the care that they take in delivering their jobs every day, despite the real difficulties that they sometimes face in their work.

The value of social care work is a key issue. Over a number of years, I have raised in the Parliament the issue of the value that we place on social care. I suggest that the pay for social care workers does not match the job that they deliver. The level of pay is poor. If we compare the pay, and the terms and conditions, of those who deliver social care in the public sector with those in the private sector, we see that both those aspects are worse in the private sector.

It baffles me that we have not addressed that aspect. We have spent millions coming up with the new social care services that we talk about, and I think that a bill is being introduced in a number of weeks, but why have we not addressed that core issue? If we do not treat care workers with respect or value the service that they deliver through the provision of decent pay and terms and conditions, it is no surprise that there are issues with recruiting people into those services and that people are also leaving them. I make that appeal.

On workforce planning, I raised with NHS Fife a month or two ago a concern that constituents have raised with me: the fact that many GPs are due to retire. There is real worry in many communities about what will happen when those GPs go. The chief executive of NHS Fife told me that it does not hold any data or information, and that it has not carried out any surveys on the GP workforce across our health centres, because they are private businesses. No other business or public service would be run in that way, such that people are clueless as to what staffing requirements will be in the future. We have to address that issue.

I praised the Government many years ago when the Christie commission’s report came out and it focused on prevention. We should not forget that many of the people who are using primary care services are doing so because other services are poor. If people live in damp, wet housing or are unable to get the skills and opportunities that they need to get a job or an education, that will result in poorer health—the statistics show that. We need to take a holistic approach that recognises those factors.