Meeting of the Parliament 03 December 2014
The Labour motion identifies a number of pressures on Scotland’s NHS. However, the motion is one-sided and partial, and it gives an incomplete picture and impression of our national health service.
I appreciate that it is an Opposition’s job to oppose, but it remains my hope that on Scotland’s NHS, even despite the motion, we can still garner a good degree of consensus across political parties.
For every statistic that signals pressures on our NHS—there certainly are pressures—there is always another statistic that points to progress and improvement in patient care. That could be in waiting times: for example, by June 2014, 97.2 per cent of people were being treated within the 12-week waiting time guarantee. I remind members that in March 2007, the figure was 85 per cent for an 18-week wait. That is progress.
Progress and improvement could be in patient safety: there has been a 14.2 per cent improvement in the mortality rate. Surely that is progress. On hygiene for our elderly patients, the incidence of Clostridium difficile has fallen by nearly 82 per cent. Surely that is progress. On staffing, there is a record number of consultants in comparison with the number in 2007, representing a 36 per cent increase. Surely that is progress. There has been an increase in numbers of trained nurses and midwives. Surely that is progress. [Interruption.]