Monday July 21st 2025
Christine Graham MSP
Christine Grahame MSP writes her monthly column for Midlothian View
It is recess for the Scottish Parliament for the months of July and August which means that there are no debates, committee meetings or First Minister’s Questions.
My TESCO surgeries and surgeries in Newtongrange and Gorebridge libraires are also suspended till we return. It does not mean that my office is suspended, quite the opposite, cases still keep coming in, mostly by email, and I can get out and about and visit various places.
My Summer Tour in late August is when I stop at smaller communities such as Auchendinny, North Middleton and Silverburn for example in Midlothian and of course others in the Borders. This will be my last Summer Surgery tour as next year I retire so it will be a bit nostalgic.
Details will be popping through your doors shortly as well as being available on my Facebook. I can also visit family in recess, but in the meantime I keep in touch via WhatsApp, one of the consequences (benefits?) of covid.
How many of us use that or shopped and banked on-line before that? I have a regular Teams meeting with my staff at 10 am each weekday to discuss cases. But there are disadvantages of this new way.
It would be good to actually have access to a bank. Seeing a GP is a rare event. Prescriptions are renewed on-line, even a review of medication can take place on-line. Having to phone between prescribed hours just to have that consultation is not for me an improvement.
There is much to be said for a face-to-face meeting with your GP. Then there are all these on-line forms to fill. I nearly always muck them up in some way and have to restart. Surely I am not alone in that? Yes this new way is not all good news.
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