Meeting of the Parliament 02 March 2016
—all of which have been invested back in front-line services. We will continue to invest unprecedented levels of resources in the health service, and we expect our boards to deliver front-line services with them.
Our long-term commitment to securing and developing local services where possible, and specialised services where necessary, underpins the clinical strategy. That will ensure that our health and social care services are responsive to the ever-changing needs of the population. The integration of health and social care is, of course, one of the most significant reforms since the establishment of the NHS.
I noted with interest that Labour’s motion
“calls on all parties to ensure the continuation of current services”
at a range of hospitals. There is a lack of self-awareness in Labour’s ranks. Labour members should reflect on what Labour did for hospitals when it was in power and compare that with what we have delivered.
We should not forget Nicola Sturgeon’s very first act as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing. On 6 June 2007, she came to Parliament and announced that we were overturning the previous Labour-led Administration’s decision to close the highly valued A and E departments at Monklands hospital and Ayr hospital. Although we had been consistent in our belief that the decisions of our predecessors to close those A and E departments were wrong, we recognised the need for a robust evidence base to ensure that services would be sustainable and to repair the trust and confidence with local communities, which had been so damaged.