Meeting of the Parliament 13 March 2025
I remind members of my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a practising NHS GP, which means that, every week, I see at first hand the consequences of the SNP’s failure to innovate in health and social care. I see patients left waiting, doctors stretched to breaking point, nurses and care staff battling with outdated systems and a healthcare system that is crying out for the very innovation that this Government claims to champion.
The Government talks about digital transformation, telehealth, artificial intelligence and electronic records, but, after 18 years of SNP rule, what do we actually have? We have a healthcare system that is running on outdated information technology, a Government that still cannot properly integrate patient records and an NHS Scotland app that was promised three years ago but that does not have even a supplier, let alone a launch date. Down south, 33 million people already use an app to book GP appointments, order prescriptions and track their health while, in Scotland, we are still waiting, still hoping and still being failed by an SNP Government that cannot bear to find solutions or to collaborate with the rest of the United Kingdom.
Instead, we are fed grand SNP announcements. For example, the now-abandoned national care service was supposed to be a flagship policy and a game changer in social care, but, after years of hype, what happened? It collapsed. The SNP promised transformation and delivered total failure. The only true innovation is to overpromise, underdeliver and then abandon ship when the mess gets too big to clean up, blaming someone else.
What about digital health? The SNP’s so-called digital health and care strategy was launched in 2018, but now, six years later, what do we have? We have chaos, a slow and inconsistent roll-out, health boards struggling, doctors and nurses trying to work with outdated systems that do not communicate with each other and patients waiting longer and longer because the SNP cannot deliver even the basics of modern healthcare. This Government has had 18 years to get its act together on digital health but instead has created a system in which even getting a GP appointment is a battle.
While patients are struggling, doctors and nurses are at breaking point. A recent British Medical Association survey found that 84 per cent of doctors believe that there are not enough staff to meet rising demand and that 86 per cent do not believe that the Government is committed to sustainable funding. It is no wonder—the SNP has overseen staff shortages, budget pressures and a growing funding crisis that has left NHS Scotland struggling to cope.
While the SNP fails to invest in real innovation, life-changing technologies are being left behind. Scotland was the first country to introduce AI in diabetes screening, back in 2011, but, in the past four years, AI adoption in our NHS has completely stagnated. Experts such as J D Blackwood from NHS Forth Valley have pleaded for stronger national leadership on AI, but what do we have instead? We have a health secretary who, until recently, was more interested in defending the chaos in his party leadership than in fixing our health service.
What about the SNP’s so-called digital front door, which the cabinet secretary spoke about? That was first promised in 2022 but has still not been delivered. The front door is still waiting for its hinges and for someone to hang it, although I am sure that the SNP would be able to find a way to cut the bottom of the door off.