Hansard

I am happy to engage with stakeholders. We have the 62-day waiting time guarantee, but it has not been met since the last quarter of 2013. We need to have action from the Government, not just reviews and bland promises.

I believe that we can find consensus, but there will be times when we will of course have to challenge the Government’s record and the Government’s performance. Over the past two weeks, we have seen extensive media coverage of the chronic failures on waiting times in accident and emergency, failure on cancer treatment times and shameful figures on the widening health gap between the richest and poorest in our society.

However, let there be no doubt that criticism will never be a reflection on our NHS workforce, who I know from personal experience go above and beyond to care for and support Scotland’s families. Indeed, many of my criticisms will be because I am defending NHS staff, who are often overworked, overstretched and undervalued. I look forward to meeting and learning from the thousands of hard-working and passionate healthcare and social care staff from across our NHS who, every day, seek to do their best for their patients. I am sure that the whole Parliament will want to send a clear message of thanks to each and every one of them.

The Government has already made clear that its priority in this session of Parliament is to close the attainment gap. We can do that only if we are serious about closing the inequality gap too. The health inequality statistics make grim reading for all of us. They are shameful. Health inequality is on the rise. Life expectancy is mapped out on the basis of people’s postcode, the circumstances of their parents and their level of education.

Health inequalities limit social mobility, restrict economic growth and strangle opportunity for far too many of our fellow citizens. The scale of the gap is so wide that I believe only a bold and ambitious approach to new ways of working in the NHS and genuine collaboration across this chamber will deliver the long-term changes that we all want to see. Indeed, tackling inequality should be our greatest cause.

I welcome the Government’s commitment in the motion to increase spending in real terms on the NHS, but I must question the Government’s commitment to tackling inequalities given its refusal to use the tax powers of the Parliament to end austerity and provide more money for public services. Make no mistake—over the course of this session of Parliament, we will look closely at health board budgets, which are set by the Government, to see whether, despite promises of more resources, local services are being cut. Families will be looking closely at decisions on the children’s ward at St John’s hospital, the children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra hospital and maternity services at the Vale of Leven hospital.

I am sure that the cabinet secretary knows that some of her greatest challenges come from the care sector, an ever-growing older population and budgetary pressures. The situation is not helped by the £1.4 billion of cuts that have been imposed on local authorities since 2011. Those cuts cause problems not only for council services, as the backlog of patients who are waiting for a care package has a knock-on effect on our NHS, with beds blocked, procedures cancelled and resources lost. It is Scotland’s shame that, last year, 270 Scots died waiting for care packages. That is why the Government needs to be bold and speed up the time that it takes to agree a social care package.

Time constraints limit what I can say about mental health. My colleague Monica Lennon will say more about the issue, but I want to say that parity between mental and physical health is long overdue. The impact of mental health problems on individuals and families is just as great as the impact of physical health problems; in many cases, it is greater. For many people, mental health problems are with them for long periods of their lives, often from childhood into adulthood.

I turn to my amendment. For cancer patients, the link between the speed of referral, treatment and outcome is well documented. How quickly someone is diagnosed and when their treatment starts are vital in ensuring the best possible chances of a positive outcome. Women who are diagnosed at the earliest stage of breast cancer are six times more likely to survive than those who are diagnosed at the latest stage. The evidence could not be clearer, but more than 3,500 cancer patients have not started treatment within the Scottish Government’s waiting time target, when we know that every day counts.

Yesterday’s cancer patient experience survey showed that almost one in five patients say that they think that they should have been seen sooner after suspicions arose. That is why we continue to support Government efforts—