Meeting of the Parliament 03 June 2026 [Draft]
I absolutely agree that we need innovation and to be able to move forward, and that it is not a case of putting one thing against another. However, we have not thought through how to secure continuity of care and how to make other aspects work better, such as deciding where test results go when they show up—to the GP or to the walk-in clinic. I do not have a GP walk-in clinic in my area; the walk-in clinic is the GP practice, so let us fund that adequately.
Better-resourced GPs will deliver more preventative care, which, in turn, will mean fewer people requiring operations or turning up at A and E. However, reducing pressure on hospitals also means investing in social care. Nearly 2,000 Scots are stuck in limbo due to delayed discharge, which means 2,000 beds that would otherwise have been available to new patients.
Meanwhile, Scotland faces a social care crisis. Social care is about much more than just helping the NHS; it is key to people living healthier and happier lives in our communities. I welcome Alison Thewliss to her post as Minister for Community Care; she has many challenges to deal with. For example, at the start of May, 9,572 people were waiting for either a social care assessment or a social care package. Health and social care partnerships had to make cuts to local care services of more than £500 million, and that figure is expected to be worse this year. The cabinet secretary and her new minister will need to intervene urgently if the present crisis is not to deepen.
It has come after five years of our asking for care workers to be paid at least £15 an hour, but I welcome other parties’ new-found commitment to doing so. We cannot expect to recruit and retain social care staff when they could be paid more for stacking supermarket shelves.
The minister has rightly thanked NHS staff for their hard work. The NHS and social care would be nothing without dedicated staff, but the reality is that front-line staff feel demoralised and burnt out, and some of them are voting with their feet.