Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 29 September 2021
I feel as if I have been time warped back to last week. We seem to have the same debate on every issue in the Scottish Parliament. That is nothing to do with the Scottish Government’s attitudes; it is purely to do with the attitudes of the members over to my left.
When we take away the Conservative hyperbole and look at the issue in reality, we see that the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 enables the Scottish ministers to make use of directions in making emergency powers to ensure continuance of services.
The NHS in Scotland was initially placed on an emergency footing on 16 March 2020. That was announced in a statement by Jeane Freeman, in which numerous ideas and ways of going forward on Covid were put in place. The period was extended until the end of September 2021.
Although the number of new Covid cases appears to be in decline, health services are continuing to deal with the most challenging combination of issues. There remains a need for caution in protecting the NHS’s capacity as we move into the challenging winter period. [Interruption.] No—I really need to get to the end of this. There is a need to continue with measures in taking a consistent approach to remobilising and renewing the vital services on which we all rely.
In addition, we are mindful of the impact on many front-line staff, who are the most important people in this scenario. They will remain under considerable pressure and must be given appropriate support, as well as the opportunity to recover, as our range of services continues to resume.
Let us look over what happened. Jeane Freeman announced to Parliament in March 2020 that the NHS was under emergency measures. Then, in March 2021, Jeane Freeman put a GIQ through Parliament, extending the period. In June this year, a letter was sent to the COVID-19 Committee to say that the period would continue until September, which made sure that everybody knew about it and there was time to debate it.
We are living in the middle of one of the most challenging times that we have ever gone through. For the Conservatives to come here and play political games while people’s lives are at stake is a damned disgrace.