Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2015
I welcome the opportunity to be able to set out the Government’s priorities. It is a great honour to be cabinet secretary for health, which comes with a great responsibility not only to address concerns about NHS performance, but to praise the achievements that our NHS staff deliver on a daily basis. I want to take the opportunity to thank all our hard-working staff for their efforts, particularly over the festive season, and for their continuing work in treating the more than 2 million patients whom the NHS sees every year.
I want to begin by addressing some of the current issues in the system that have been highlighted. I recognise that the NHS has had to cope with significant pressures this winter. As has been said, an ageing population, seasonal flu and increasing demand are features of not just this winter but past winters, and staff should be commended for their efforts, which, despite the pressures that I have mentioned, have resulted in nine out of 10 patients being seen within four hours in A and E. Those pressures have affected all parts of the healthcare system across the UK. We should remember that, because all the main parties in the Parliament are—in one way or another—in charge of the NHS somewhere on these islands. We all face the same issues, and we should perhaps bear that in mind when we scrutinise the performance of the NHS here in Scotland.