 The final item of business is the member's business debate on motion 3813, in the name of Audrey Nicholl, on International Day of the Midwife, 100 years of progress. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I would ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Audrey Nicholl to open the debate up to 70 minutes, please, Ms Nicholl. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I begin by thanking all members across the chamber for their support of this motion. I extend my thanks to all members who are speaking today in support of International Day of the Midwife that will take place tomorrow, Thursday 5 May. I do appreciate that members will be wanting to get up the road quite quickly this evening. I also acknowledge the support for preparing for today's debate from Fiona Gibb, from the Royal College of Midwives, and Andrea Lawry, a former colleague at the Robert Gordon University. Today, I want to celebrate the role midwives play globally in the holistic health and wellbeing of mothers and babies, the outstanding care and professionalism that was shown by midwives during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the important role of education in supporting the global midwifery body in its practice, providing holistic maternal healthcare. The theme of this year's International Day of the Midwife is 100 years of progress, marking the centenary of the international confederation of midwives that currently comprises 143 midwives associations, representing over 1 million midwives across 124 countries. It was in the 1900s that European midwives first came together at international meetings, forming the international midwives union in the 1920s, later becoming the international confederation of midwives. The ICM works closely with the WHO, United Nations, International Council of Nurses and other global healthcare and non-governmental organisations, to advance midwifery globally and improve sexual and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child and adolescent health through the delivery of a range of projects, including supporting education and training, strengthening services and capacity building, and developing leadership and advocacy skills, particularly for young midwives. In Scotland, the best start of five-year forward plan for maternity and neonatal care sets out a vision for maternity and neonatal care in Scotland that puts women, babies and families at the centre. The plan aims to support strong family relationships, helping to reduce inequalities and deprivation, which can have longer-term health consequences for families. Of course, over the past two years, midwives have faced the extraordinary challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, and during a recent debate on perinatal mental health, I spoke about constituents worried for the mental wellbeing of their partner, sister, daughter, who had just given birth or who was struggling with the choices that they faced as they awaited the birth of their new baby. Women facing difficult decisions about the Covid-19 vaccine and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Black, Asian and minority ethnic women at disproportionate risk of adverse outcomes from Covid-19 compounded during pregnancy. Modifications to services such as home birth, no birth partner present, attending scans or receiving devastating news alone, all profoundly impacting maternal mental health. The removal of choice and prospect of giving birth alone, all significantly impacting holistic maternal health. Women in rural areas are already more likely to experience perinatal mental health problems facing particular challenges in accessing services. I welcomed the minister's response regarding the Scottish perinatal mental health pathways into care in that debate. In this week, that is also perinatal mental health week, and I am delighted to acknowledge the new NHS Grampian community perinatal mental health team. Turning to the wider global context, while nearly 300,000 women die annually from preventable causes at or around childbirth, progress has been made to reduce preventable maternal deaths. According to the United Nations Population Fund, since the year 2000, the global maternal mortality issue has fallen by 38 per cent, from 342 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in the year 2000 to 210 in 2017. Many countries have half their maternal death rates in the past 10 years, but every death is a tragedy. The United Nations report the state of the world's midwifery 2021 highlights the positive impact of high-quality midwifery care on women and families, recognising midwives as core members of the sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health workforce. In the face of Covid-19 restrictions and overburdened health systems, midwives became and remain vital for meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of women. Of course, delivery of high-quality care relies on high-quality education and training. I commend all our educators for the crucial role that they play in developing and delivering high-quality contemporary education to undergraduates, those who are already in practice and those who are returning to practice. Scotland has a long history of innovation in midwifery education, with Joseph Gibson, appointed the world's first chair of midwifery by Edinburgh town council in 1726. The textbook for midwives, written by Margaret Miles, a one-time resident in Aberdeen in the 50s, has become a globally recognised essential text now in its 17th edition. The School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedic practice at the Robert Gordon University in my constituency has a strong reputation for producing skilled and compassionate graduates and was the first university in Scotland to receive the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative Gold Award, a recognition of their world-class training and commitment to global best practice. While today's debate is celebratory, it is right to acknowledge the challenges faced by the profession around workforce shortfalls and service transformation. The Scottish Government has been committed to addressing those and other challenges, and I look forward to hearing a little bit more about that from the minister in her response. I could not be prouder to stand today for midwives and their associations ahead of international day of the midwife, as they stand for the rights, dignity and health of women, newborns and families everywhere. I hope that Miles Stone will offer an opportunity to value how global midwifery has evolved over the past 100 years and to acknowledge the next 100 years and what we, as members, can do to ensure that midwives here in Scotland and beyond receive the enabling environment and support that they deserve. I would like to start by congratulating my friend and colleague, Audrey Nicholl, for securing this evening's debate. I thank her for advocating on behalf of the global midwife community and highlighting the significant progress that has been made over the past 100 years in the fields of neonatal and maternal health. I think that tonight gives us all the opportunity to recognise the crucial contribution that midwives provide, and I think that we can all agree that our midwives are highly educated and skilled in ensuring that women and babies have safe and effective maternity care and that babies receive the best possible starts in life. Whilst many accurately picture midwives as supporting women in childbirth, they also contribute far more, including anti-natal and post-natal care, provide family planning services, breast and cervical cancer screenings. With counselling and information, they can also help prevent female genital mutilation, support gender-based violence survivors and provide reproductive health services to adolescents. It is also not unusual for midwives to play the role of surrogate mother or partner for those without close family nearby. The role has been particularly valuable throughout the on-going pandemic, where expecting and new moms have faced the additional challenge of going through pregnancy without the usual support network that would ideally be available to all. In my view, midwives, maternity support workers and student midwives have been the unsung heroes of the pandemic, putting their own health at risk to provide excellent care to women and their families. Their impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of new and expecting mothers is impossible to quantify. However, to say the least, you would be hard pressed to find a mother not thankful for the presence of their midwife, especially over the past two years. I remember when I had my daughter 32 years ago now, the trainee midwife looking after me at the time, urged me to convince her supervisors to allow her to stay on after her shift had ended just so that she could see the birth of my daughter through to the end. She was with me the whole time and I was truly grateful for the kindness and support. That is just my personal experience, but even after all these years, that one act of kindness has always stayed with me. She could have just gone home after her shift finished, but instead she stayed. I know from countless other stories from parents that that is indeed business as usual, with midwives regularly going above and beyond their call of duty out of the goodness of their hearts. Sadly, as recent headlines would suggest, misogyny remains an ever-present issue plaguing our society. Nowadays, thankfully, issues specifically affecting women are increasingly being given the attention that they deserve, but they had historically been denied. Globally, over the past 100 years, midwives have been on the front lines against misogyny, faced with the challenge of caring for and supporting mothers in societies that have often undervalued both midwives and women in general. Unfortunately, the midwifery profession is beginning to receive the praise and support that it deserves, partly because of the increased recognition of NHS staff caused by the pandemic and just maybe through TV shows like Call the Midwife. Perhaps that has contributed to the 4.2 per cent annual increase in the number of midwifers in Scotland. However, with more than 6,500 midwifery and nursery vacancies left to fill, a record high in Scotland, I believe that it is important that we all fully support international day of the midwife on May 5 to show all potential and current midwives that they are valued and that they are respected and that they are needed. I believe that the absolute minimum that the midwifery community deserves is a day to recognise their contributions to Scotland and, indeed, the rest of the world. So, to all midwives out there, I say happy international midwife day. You have more than earned it. Thank you. I now call Tess White to be followed by Carol Mockant up to four minutes. Please, Ms White. Deputy Presiding Officer, it's an honour to speak today. This is my tribute to the extraordinary midwives in Scotland, the UK and around the world, including my own sister, Kath, who's been a midwife for some 40 years. She says she was born a midwife. For Kath, midwifery was a calling and I know that it will forever remain a part of her, as it is for many midwives. Deputy Presiding Officer, there's a remarkably special bond between women and their midwives. From antenatal appointments to the delivery room to the early postpartum period, midwives and the women in their care navigate the journey to new motherhood together. It's a truly unique partnership and the Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp relief as pregnant women accessed antenatal services without the support of their partners. For many women, their midwives were all they had. Midwives provide care to mother and baby from those early weeks of pregnancy to the post birth period, but they do so much more. It is a highly skilled profession, but too often their value goes unrecognised. They listen, they offer emotional support, they facilitate, they advocate, they see women at their most vulnerable and at their most empowered. This journey is not always straightforward. Midwives help to bring new life into the world, but they also bear witness to the fragility of life. Debilitating pregnancy symptoms, complications during pregnancy, the devastating emotional and physical aftermath of baby loss, difficulties during and after delivery. These are just some of the profound and distressing challenges that a midwife must contend with. I had preeclampsia during my own pregnancy, a condition that affects more than 2,500 pregnancies in Scotland every year. My midwife spotted the signs and intervened. They saved my life and they saved my son's life. I'm eternally grateful to them for their wonderful and professional care. Midwifery can be rewarding work, but it's often highly pressurised and highly stressful. The past two years have been extremely difficult for midwives. They have continued to provide exceptional care to pregnant women and new mothers, not just in hospital, but in the community, visiting new families in their homes, carrying out newborn check-ups and providing breastfeeding support at the height of the pandemic. The Royal College of Midwives recently surveyed its members on their experiences in the workplace, and the full results will be published next week. But a preview of the surveys finding makes for alarming reading. Midwifery is near breaking point. Three in four RCM members are considering leaving their posts. 88% reported experiencing work-related stress. 92% worked without breaks over the past 18 months. Only 6% of RCM members believe that their workplace is consistently safely staffed. Deputy Presiding Officer, for the health and wellbeing of midwives, for the student midwives they train, and for mothers and their babies, I implore the Scottish Government to respond to these findings. The Scottish Government's five-year plan for maternity in neonatal care in Scotland, the best start, emphasises that, and I quote, the health, development, social and economic consequences of childbirth and the early weeks of life are profound, and the impact, both positive and negative, is felt by individual families and communities as well as across the whole of society. Midwives have issued a clarion call. I do hope that the Scottish Government will act. Karen Mawchen, who is joining us remotely to be followed by Gillian Martin. Up to four minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank Audra Nicolle for bringing this important debate to the chamber and for members so far for the contributions. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I also welcome International Day of the Midwifery, which is being marked tomorrow in pay tribute to all those who have contributed to the development of the field as we celebrate 100 years of progress throughout the global and global midwife community. Indeed, Deputy Presiding Officer, I feel it is right that I begin my remarks by noting and commenting on the work of midwives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic puts significant pressure on all aspects of our health service, but midwifery is a very obvious example. In many cases, partners of women given birth were not able to be with them in the room, and so a midwife would be there close to support during childbirth. For many, it would be their trusted confidence when it came to taking up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine, something many pregnant women were sceptical about in the early stages of the pandemic, understandably. On that note, Deputy Presiding Officer, I pay tribute to the Royal College of Midwife for their strong calls for everyone to get the vaccine, noting importantly the impacts severe Covid symptoms could have on both mother and baby, and the potentially negative impact of entering maternity wards having not been vaccinated. The work of midwives throughout the pandemic has been admirable. They have kept services running during the most difficult of times and provided the support that is required for so many. However, there are clear and significant problems in midwifery, and those surrounding the fact that there are over 5,000 vacancies in nursing in midwifery in Scotland at the moment, and the fillings of many of those already employed in nursing in midwifery are underpaid, underresourced and undervalued. It is expected that agency work will be relied on in some instances to fill the gaps. However, the scale of agencies that are provided to the Scottish NHS is simply unsustainable. More investment must be put into education and training to ensure that more young people leaving school consider a career in midwifery—an excellent career for many people. Indeed, the Scottish Government must act to pay nursing in midwifery staff the wages that they deserve and ensure that workplace conditions that they experience daily are improved and support a workforce that has been under pressure during the pandemic. Ahead of last year's Scottish parliamentary elections, the Royal College of Midwifery, as well as asking for the midwife staff shortages to be brought to an end, called on investment in midwifery to tackle social deprivation. As I have said many times in the chamber, health inequalities remain one of Scotland's biggest challenges, and I would encourage the minister to consider how midwifery services can continue to provide the best start in life for children, protect women as they go through pregnancy and remain in contact with both mother and child to protect mental health and wellbeing and to promote choices towards healthy living. There has been significant progress in the global midwife community in the last 100 years, and that is evident in the first-class treatment and services that many of the members have mentioned here today and is provided by midwives across Scotland and beyond. However, to ensure that in 50 or even 100 more years, when similar debates are being had again, we must have a collective endeavour to overcome the challenges that currently exist in workplace environments and in vacancies. More, we must show collective ambition to use midwifery as a vehicle for tackling the social and health inequalities that continue to grow in our society. I once again welcome the international day of the midwife and the contributions from all of the members. I thank all of those midwives in my region of south of Scotland and beyond for the incredible work that they have done and continue to do in serving their communities. I congratulate my friend and colleague Audrey Nicol on securing this debate to mark international day of the midwife. I also want to pay tribute to the work that she did while she was at Robert Gordon University working with her student midwives and nurses. Not so long ago, she could not study midwifery specifically, retain nurses and then go on to specialise in midwifery. It is a massive step forward that midwifery in itself is recognised as a complex and substantial clinical discipline that in Scotland is offered as an undergraduate degree, combining tutorials and lectures with comprehensive placements in all the disciplines within midwifery. From community midwifery, work in postnatal and antinatal wards, to theatre work, infant feeding teams and perinatal mental health work, to name a few. The Scottish Government has prioritised the training of midwives along with nurses and paramedics for allocation of support in the form of a non-means tested bursary, the only nation in the UK to do so. We must recognise that the three universities are Robert Gordon's, Napier and University of West Scotland, as the only universities offering the specialised undergraduate course cannot currently meet the demand of the amount of applicants who want to enter this field. I am hugely supportive of more universities providing this specialist training. The latter point on availability training places might go a long way to relieve the pressures on our existing workforce. In the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, as Audrey Nicholl mentioned, we undertook an inquiry into perinatal mental health, which we reported on at the start of this year. Inevitably, a lot of the lived experience that we heard was from mothers who had given birth during the pandemic. I won't rehearse the points from that debate, but it points to a wider theme that midwives in postnatal wards often cannot have adequate time that they would like to spend with new mums in issues around infant feeding that could arise to anxiety and could be a precursor to some more serious mental health issues. I particularly want to praise the work done in Aberdeen maternity hospital by the two women team of midwives, Jill Swinskell and Karen Morrison. They spend time with new mums to give them the support that they need to breastfeed and that support cannot be underestimated. As it stands, not every midwifery student gets to do a placement with an infant feeding team, but it is an area of expertise that cannot be underestimated in the care of a new mother and baby. If feeding is going well, then not only does baby get the best nutritional start in life, but the wellbeing of mum is significantly better too. It may be billed as the most natural thing in the world, but it can be very, very hard and it does not automatically come naturally. Our midwife-led infant feeding teams in hospitals and the home visiting midwifery community midwives are worth their weight in gold, not just in terms of safeguarding physical health of mother and baby, but in identifying perinatal mental health issues as well. I will end by probably quite embarrassing for one particular person declaring an interest as my 19-year-old daughter Eve is currently in her second year of midwifery at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen in Miss Nicholl's constituency and is taking part in placements all over Scotland from Regmore to AMH to the community in Aberdeenshire and this month in Edinburgh. It was all that I could do not to make my entire speech about her experiences and enthusiasm for her chosen profession, or indeed my incredulity, the pride that my baby has to date delivered 14 other people's babies. What a rewarding career awaits her. I wonder what you are talking about her in terms of what Tess White has about a lengthy career in midwifery in years to come. It is not just the new recruits that we must cherish. It is the existing experienced staff that we have asked so much of, particularly in the last two years. We must address the reasons why so many of our midwives feel burnt out and act to address those concerns so that we can keep them in the service. Their experience is too precious to lose, and I thank Audrey Nicholl again for the chance to pay tribute to them today. Thank you. I now call Evelyn Tweed. We call her by Jeremy Balfour. Mr Balfour will be the last speaker in the open debate. Up to four minutes, please, Ms Tweed. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want to thank my friend and colleague, Audrey Nicholl, for bringing this as her first member's debate to the chamber. It gives us the opportunity to celebrate the hard work and importance of midwives in Scotland and around the world. Having a baby is one of the most exciting times in any women's life, but it also comes with anxieties and fears, especially for first-time mums. The supportive role that midwives offer is key to the experience women can have in their journey from pregnancy to holding their new-born baby and beyond. As the NHS Scotland website says, one of the most important aspects of the job is making sure that mothers and their babies have a positive experience. Tomorrow is international day of the midwife when we take the chance to celebrate 100 years of progress and the amazing role that midwives play in bringing a baby into the world. We look back at the long history of midwifery from the howdy of the 17th century to the nurse midwives of the 50s and 60s, as depicted in Caller Midwife, to the midwives of today. After all, a women's journey to motherhood may be exciting, but it's also very scary. I remember this all too well with my own pregnancies. The highs and the lows, and often having to speak to my midwife to seek reassurance on things, to make sure things were okay. On my first meeting with my midwife when pregnant with my first child, she said, after this, you're going to be greeting Yfdaen, and I laughed and I said, that's just not me, and guess what she was right. Midwives actually do know a thing or two. However, we must also recognise that being a midwife is not an easy job. Midwives also support women through traumatic events, including miscarriage and stillbirth. Their job, as Audrey Nicoll and others have already said, has been particularly difficult throughout the pandemic, when the support of partners, family and friends was not available due to Covid restrictions. The Scottish Government's best start five-year plan was a hugely positive development in this country's maternity and neonatal care. The education and training body for the NHS Scotland NES reported in March 2021 that implementing person-centred relationship-based care, as prescribed in best start, could bring significant benefits such as reducing intervention, pre-term births and fetal loss. That would ultimately reduce dependency levels and consequently workforce demand. The long-term effect of that could be significant benefit in new mums, while alleviating pressures on our midwives who are suffering due to high workload and burnout. As our population changes and more women with varying needs are having children later in life, I welcome a continued focus on implementing the best start plan. In conclusion, a midwife on the BBC's brilliant docuseries, Yorkshire Midwives on Call, said, Every time I see a birth, I just think that women are incredible. Women really are amazing. I would respond that midwives are incredible and midwives really are amazing. I for one certainly could not have done without me. I feel like we are talking male. It is important to hear a slight male voice because all the speeches have rightly said how good midwives are with the expected mother and baby, but they are also very good with the fathers who are standing there probably causing more problems than the expected mother. I would like to make two brief points in conclusion. May is a really important month for my family. At the end of this month will be the birth of my twin girls. I know from personal experience that my wife went through quite a difficult pregnancy that the support that she and I got as a family, we got going through that. As many people have said, they go the extra mile, they stay on longer. Both my sister and my mother-in-law were midwives. In fact, my mother-in-law was a midwife in Gateshead in the 60s and 70s, and she still tells the story of waiting around for 24 hours in someone's house for a child to be born. We can see from watching things like how things have progressed and the improvements that have been made in the past 30 or so years. It is important to acknowledge the work that goes on, day in, day out, often unseen. I agree that we need to look at whether more universities need to come forward and offer those courses in regard to midwives, because we need more in Scotland. However, this is also a difficult month for us as a family. Next year, on the 10th of May, will be the 13th birthday of my little girl who was born asleep. I know that the SNP Government is moving on this, but when we look at progress, I still think that more needs to be done for those who go through stillbirth or whose babies are born asleep. I know that the minister is looking at different reviews, but I encourage her and the Government to move as quickly as possible on this. I think that there has been progress, even in the last number of years, in regard to people for ladies' given birth in a further way from where other children are being born. That is really important. I think that the support that the third sector is getting in regard to support after that, when mothers and dads go home, is really important. However, I still think that there is more that can be done. I know that the minister wants to do that, and I encourage her and her colleagues to move on that. The loss of any child is devastating. The death of a baby who was born asleep is hard. That is not hard just for the moment that it happens, but it can go on for many years and can affect people's lives. I welcome what the Government is doing, but I encourage it to keep moving quicker. Thank you, Mr Balfour. We will now hear from the minister to respond to the debate, and I call on the minister to do that very thing up to seven minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am very pleased to be able to respond on behalf of the Government this afternoon as we mark international day of the midwife, and I thank Audrey Nicholl for moving that important motion. As my colleagues have highlighted, it is really important to reflect as we celebrate 100 years of progress. In Scotland, we are really fortunate to have a highly educated, skilled and compassionate team of midwives who lead and deliver high-quality care that is so valued by women and their families during their pregnancy. We have heard that so many times around the chamber today as they prepare for their birth and for the first few precious days and weeks with their babies. Our midwives support the whole family, and we heard that very powerfully from Jeremy Balfour there. What matters is that evidence tells us that experience in the early years can make a real difference to health and wellbeing later on in life, and support for new parents needs to start pre-birth. I acknowledge, of course, that one of the greatest impacts and challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years has been marked by changes to maternity care. Let me begin by thanking every single midwife in Scotland and every young midwife in training, including Eve. It was lovely to hear an update of her progress. Every single young midwife in training for their dedication to the role and to the people of Scotland. Despite those changes, colleagues in the chamber today have highlighted how midwives throughout the pandemic sustained their efforts to deliver person-centred high-quality care for mums and babies throughout pregnancy birth and following birth. The pandemic has had and continues to police demands on all front-line staff in a way that was previously unimaginable. Thank you Minister for taking the intervention. Does the Minister agree that the latest RCM survey found that findings are alarming, with three out of four midwives considering leaving their posts, and only six per cent, that's six per cent, believe that their workplace is staffed safely? What please will the minister do to hear the midwives and act on what they're telling you? Certainly in government we will absolutely pay attention to that survey. We are in regular contact with the profession. In fact, just yesterday I met with a group of 12 midwives to hear some of their concerns about the implementation of best start in the area that they are working in. I'm absolutely determined that we will listen, that we will learn and that we will make sure that midwifery is sustainable well into the future and because it's a very precious resource. We are absolutely incredibly proud of midwifery's response to the pandemic. They had to, as everyone else did, adapt to rapid change and demonstrated fully what a critical role the profession plays in very difficult times. Midwives make a vital contribution to the quality and safety of maternity care and that's why the Scottish Government has invested over 16 million in reforming maternity care in Scotland as set out in the best start five-year forward plan for maternity and neonatal services. That sets out a future vision for maternity and neonatal care and focuses on putting women and babies and families at the centre, ensuring that they receive the highest quality of care according to their needs. The pandemic highlighted the importance of certain aspects of the best start model of care and accelerated progress in many areas, such as providing care closer to home, the importance of partner support and involvement in care and the ability of staff to work flexibly and across traditional boundaries. The Scottish Government recognises the staffing challenges being experiences and the challenges that this presents in being able to implement a continuity of care model. Midwives play a central role in making sure that women receive the care that they need when they need it most and that's why as part of that priority work we're working with delivery partners to ensure that Scotland has the right midwifery workforce and the right place with the right skills and competencies. Growing our workforce is absolutely crucial, so student intakes have increased over 10 consecutive years, culminating in a target intake of 301 midwives for 2022. That's a 5 per cent uplift on 2021, absolutely vital that we have new midwives coming into the profession. Midwives play a central role in all circumstances of pregnancy, and last year we committed to improving miscarriage care in Scotland in our programme for government, and that included taking forward the recommendations made in the Lancet series, miscarriage matters, alongside a commitment on the provision of dedicated facilities for women who are experiencing unexpected pregnancy complications to enable us to get a better understanding of board readiness to implement both the Scottish Government commitments and Lancet series recommendations. We've designed and are imminently going to launch a questionnaire to gather information on the current service provision across Scotland, and we really appreciate respondents within the NHS taking the time and effort to complete the questionnaire so that we can better understand and improve miscarriage provision. We've already spoken with families who've gone through miscarriage and will be considering how more women and their partners with real-life lived experience can have an opportunity to inform the work and make the services stronger going forward. I want to place on record my thanks to those families for speaking to us about such traumatic issues. Colleagues have spoken today about the unique opportunity midwives have to identify those at risk of or in need of more support, and the work that they do to ensure that those individuals get the care that they need at the earliest opportunity. The pandemic was a challenging time for women and their families, but all maternity services in Scotland were committed to offering women toys, taking account of their individual needs and the best available evidence for care options. It's really important, as Tess White said, that we listen to staff on the ground and it's vital to learn from what's working well to help services to manage pressures effectively, and this Government is absolutely committed to doing that and to strongly supporting recovery, to improve satisfaction for women and midwives, and most importantly, to improve outcomes for women and their babies. We've introduced a national wellbeing hub website for the whole health and social care workforce, their families, carers and volunteers with advice and tips and signposting on a range of issues, including sleep, mental health and finance, and made over 1,200 hours of coaching available to staff. We've also set up a dedicated wellbeing support line for NHS staff hosted by NHS 24, and we're working with boards to ensure that staff have access to welfare facilities set up during the early days of the pandemic. We have a lot to celebrate in Scotland and the international day of the midwife is a time for us to do that. We know that the public values and admires midwives, but we might not always truly articulate their role, and I would really encourage midwives to proudly tell their own stories so that we all develop a better understanding of the breadth and diversity of midwifery roles and expertise and the impact that this profession has on individual people and on our society as a whole. Presiding Officer, I'd like to close this debate by thanking those who have shared today. I also want to recognise the dedication of educators, researchers and students, including those based at the Robert Gordon University and beyond, who are all working with us to ensure the delivery of the best midwifery services. I absolutely agree that our midwives are a precious resource and I'm delighted to celebrate them today. I assure you that this Government values the work that they do and the difference that they make to Scotland. Thank you.