Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2024
What we seek is a reduction in demand for secondary care, which is far more expensive than the work that we would undertake in primary care. We also need to be cognisant of the fact that, over the 17 years of SNP Government, £17 billion-worth of Barnett consequentials have not been spent on the health service.
We would adopt more data science and artificial intelligence solutions in order to become more efficient at handling surgery schedules, managing staff rotas and ordering equipment and consumables. Adopting medical technology solutions at scale would help us to manage patient care better, shorten hospital stays, reduce hospital readmission rates, improve patient satisfaction and achieve better patient outcomes. In rural and island areas, that would include mobile screening services to take diagnostics such as lung screening to communities instead of expecting patients to travel long distances.
We could use AI to speed up reading of X-rays, computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance imaging scans. That would complement, not replace, doctors.
We would also ensure that NHS management support our clinical staff better. Workforce terms and conditions must work for those who are on the front line and their families. Good staff morale is vital to retaining great people and to making the NHS an attractive option for our bright school leavers.
We would also, subject to each medical school’s capacity, remove the false cap on the number of medical students at Scotland’s universities, thereby allowing a greater number of qualified Scots to become medics.
However, across our population, we really must take greater responsibility for our own health: our NHS cannot continue to act as a repair shop when things go wrong. We need a service that is far more focused on keeping us healthier for longer.
The Scottish Conservatives have brought solutions to the table before now. Almost three years ago, I proposed a solution for tackling long Covid, but that was ignored. The then health secretary went on to be First Minister, while the number of Scots who were suffering with that debilitating condition grew to over 180,000—10 per cent of them children. Let us not have a repeat of that inaction.
We are calling for a serious, focused and sincere national conversation about the NHS—one that is free from the taint of electoral scheming and is dedicated solely to finding sustainable solutions for the future.
I move amendment S6M-13466.2, to leave out from second “, including” to end and insert:
“; notes with concern that the Scottish Government has frozen all major NHS project investment for two years and that, for waiting lists to be cut, construction on these projects must resume immediately; further notes that the Scottish Government’s A&E target has not been met in almost four years and that its 62-day cancer referral standard has not been met in over a decade; notes with alarm that one in seven people in Scotland are now on an NHS waiting list, and that the Scottish Government has failed to meet its targets to end long waits for treatment; requests that the Scottish Government reconsider its plans for a National Care Service, which will only serve to take power away from local authorities, and will not address the underlying issues in social care; reminds the Scottish Government that, since it promised to end delayed discharge seven years ago, successive health secretaries have failed to do so, and emphasises that any reform of health and social care must address the issues listed above as a matter of urgency and incorporate modern, efficient and local solutions into the health service.”
16:34Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.