Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2016
Audit Scotland has provided a balanced overview of the NHS and has made several recommendations, which we accept in full.
As we consider the report, we have to recognise the challenges in our health services, but we must also acknowledge the many achievements. First and foremost, with patient satisfaction levels up to 90 per cent, I begin my speech by commending highly the commitment of all our staff across the NHS in Scotland. It is our staff—our nurses, our midwives, our doctors, our paramedics—whose dedication allows us to meet the challenges that we face and to implement new initiatives to ensure that we continue to deliver a health service that we can rightly be proud of.
I am proud of the national health service, I am proud of the record level of investment of close to £13 billion that has been committed by this Government, I am proud of the highest ever levels of staffing, and I am proud of our improvements in health, patient safety and survival rates. All those investments were acknowledged in the Audit Scotland report, but this Government wants to go further to ensure that the NHS receives the resources that it needs to equip it for the future. For example, having increased front-line health spending by 8.2 per cent since 2010-11, we will go on to increase the NHS revenue budget by almost £2 billion by the end of this parliamentary session, which is the highest commitment by any party in Parliament.
However, we need to do more than just give the NHS extra money. As I said earlier this afternoon, the NHS cannot stand still—we need to reform. We all recognise the nature and scale of the challenges that our whole system of health and social care faces. That is why we will continue to drive forward our significant programme of transformational change.