Meeting of the Parliament 29 January 2025
I do indeed. That is the situation that I was describing. Alex Cole-Hamilton and I are of one mind on this.
The BMA says that there are more than 1,000 consultant vacancies, which is enough to staff two large hospitals, but the Scottish Government reports only 397. That shows yet more understaffing, which does not help to tackle waiting lists. Since 2019, the NHS has spent more than £900 million on private agency nurses and locum consultants in a desperate attempt to plug the gaps. That is a sticking plaster instead of real solutions, and it comes at a cost that is greater than the cost of employing those staff directly in the NHS. We also know there are not enough nurses in the NHS to meet demand and provide safe care. High vacancy levels persist, and the latest data shows that 2,380 nursing and midwifery jobs are lying vacant.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health produced a report last year called “Worried and Waiting”. It includes a number of recommendations to deal with critical workforce pressures, including a call for a specific strategy for the child health workforce. It also highlights rota gaps, which are not good for patient safety. Has any of that been addressed? Macmillan Cancer Support warns about a “cancer care gap” as the numbers of people with cancer rise but that is not matched by an increase in the workforce. Marie Curie tells us about the lack of palliative care staff and even a lack of training for generalist staff about end-of-life care.
I turn to mental health. Scottish Action for Mental Health reports a significant increase in demand for services for adults and children, and we also know about that from our constituency casework. The SNP promised access to a mental health worker for every general practice. A thousand new people were to be recruited, but the budget was cut in 2023. That is another pledge that was jettisoned by the SNP.
We all know that the SNP Government received record funding from the United Kingdom Labour Government in the latest budget, yet it has chosen not to invest in a proper workforce plan. To be clear, I note that that is a political choice that the Government has made. The SNP has the money and the power but it has simply chosen not to use them. It knows that staff are crying out for support, yet those staff are being ignored—so much so that the First Minister could not be bothered to invite Unison to his health meeting last week. He is happy to use health and social care staff as his human shield, but he is not happy to sit down with them to understand the challenges that they face.
I mentioned the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. He is supposed to be responsible for health and social care at the top table of Government, but he has been distracted by limogate and sidelined by his boss. However, to be frank, I am not sure that the First Minister is any more competent. As finance secretary, John Swinney cut £70 million from social care while people were stuck in hospitals because they were unable to get care packages. As finance secretary, he cut £65 million from primary care services, making it more difficult for people to get a GP appointment. As Deputy First Minister, he was at the heart of Government and was responsible for overseeing delivery when delayed discharge soared, A and E waits went up and the Scottish Government failed to meet the 62-day cancer target in every year since 2012.