Meeting of the Parliament 17 January 2024
I need to make progress, given the limited time, I am afraid.
For example, since 2021, we have invested £8.6 million in programmes through the Centre for Sustainable Delivery to support transformation and the roll-out of new techniques, innovations and safe, fast and efficient pathways for Scotland’s patients.
It is crucial that we secure best value wherever we are delivering services in NHS Scotland, to allow us to maximise the impact of our investment and the delivery of quality services to patients. Of course, none of that would be possible without the dedicated staff in NHS Scotland. NHS staffing levels are historically high under this Government, with more than 24 per cent more staff in post, and we remain committed to implementing our national workforce strategy.
Due to our constructive engagement with trade unions, Scotland is the only part of the UK that is not experiencing strike action in our NHS. I was somewhat surprised that Labour is bringing forward this debate in the same week that junior doctors are striking in Labour-run Wales, which has resulted in the cancellation of 6,500 out-patient appointments and 400 planned operations and will undoubtedly impact on its waiting times. Of course, that is dwarfed by the situation in NHS England, where a total of 1.3 million acute in-patient and out-patient appointments have been cancelled due to strike action since December 2022.
As a Government, we will continue to make progress, and I am determined to see continued improvements over the coming year. I am committed to making sure that we take forward the changes in order to deliver our recovery and to reform the way in which we provide services within NHS Scotland, so that we have a sustainable healthcare system that continues to deliver high-quality services to the patients of Scotland.
I move amendment S6M-11874.2, to leave out from “is alarmed” to end and insert:
“recognises that health services across the UK are dealing with the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on waiting times; further recognises that too many people are waiting too long for treatment, and welcomes the reductions in the longest waits, including a 69% reduction in patients waiting over two years for a new outpatient appointment from the end of June 2022 and a 26% reduction in patients waiting longer than two years for inpatient or day case treatment over the same period; highlights the launch of the Waiting Well Hub, to give people the information and tools that they need to look at their own health and wellbeing during the waiting period, think about what matters to them and what health improvements they could make in the meantime; welcomes that constructive engagement with trade unions has meant that Scotland is the only part of the UK not experiencing strike action and the associated unprecedented level of disruption for patients and families; further welcomes the Scottish Government’s draft Budget, which gives the NHS a real-terms uplift, in stark contrast to the UK Government Autumn Statement figures, which show a real-terms cut to NHS England; notes that, due to the deteriorating medium-term fiscal outlook, a revised Infrastructure Investment Plan Pipeline is expected to be published alongside the Medium-term Financial Strategy in May 2024; appreciates that the workforce is at the heart of all that the NHS does, and thanks all of Scotland’s highly skilled and committed NHS staff for their hard work and dedication, and believes that the NHS must be kept true to its founding principles of being publicly owned, publicly operated, and free at the point of need, and further believes that the only way to protect the NHS from the creeping privatisation imposed by UK administrations is through independence.”
16:13Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.