Mr Alistair Carmichael

I am grateful to you for allowing me to take part in the debate, Sir Alec. I apologise for my late arrival; I had a five-hour delay to my flight today, which is all part of the joys of highland living. I particularly wanted to take part as a consequence of representations I received from my constituent Gina Tait, who, but for the grace of God, could have found herself in the same situation as Lyla’s parents, with the same consequences. The fact that she did not was because she was simply not prepared to take no for an answer. Gina told me that after her daughter had been seen the first time, by a GP in Britain, she was left feeling that she was somehow a pushy parent. Then, when she was on holiday in Morocco, she took her daughter to see a GP there. Again, she was told that there was nothing particularly wrong, and was nearly fobbed off with antibiotics for tonsillitis. It was only when she insisted for the third time that her daughter was diagnosed. Gina was not a pushy parent. She was a good mother who knew her own child and, as she says, “something just felt wrong”. As well as Lyla’s law, which I 100% support, we need a campaign here and now so that parents have better awareness of the symptoms—the four Ts to which reference has been made. In that way, parents can act for themselves and take better control of the healthcare that is there for their children. I am delighted to see this petition debate today, and I am grateful to you, Sir Alec, for allowing me to take a brief part in it.