Meeting of the Parliament 13 March 2025
In January, at the National Robotarium in Edinburgh, the First Minister set out our priorities for national health service recovery and renewal, which are to reduce the immediate pressures across the NHS; to shift the balance of care from hospital to the community; to take a long-term focus on prevention to tackle the root causes of ill health and disease; and—the subject of this debate—to use innovation, both digital and technological, to improve access to care.
We all know the tremendous pressures on our health and social care services in recent years. Those services face Covid-related backlogs and delayed discharges, and they are working hard to meet the increasing needs and demands of an ageing population.
The NHS requires reform to ensure that we can address changing needs and have a sustainable health service now and into the future. Later this month, the Scottish Government will publish an operational improvement plan, which will detail how we will deliver immediate improvement. That will be followed later in the spring by our population health framework, which will set out a long-term approach to primary prevention. Our medium-term approach to health and social care reform will then be published before the summer recess. Those three key documents will build on the health and social care vision that I set out to the Parliament last June and will demonstrate how we will plan services for our whole population over the short, medium and longer terms.
Adopting innovation will be central to delivery, and that is what this debate will focus on. We know that a scientific revolution is under way that has the power to transform healthcare. It offers genuine cause for optimism about the future. We are seeing rapid advances in the use of precision medicine, robotics and diagnostics and in the application of artificial intelligence to diagnose and treat disease, as well as to keep people healthier for longer.
Scotland’s life sciences and technology businesses, our universities and the NHS are driving that scientific revolution. A few weeks ago, Miles Briggs hosted Cancer Research UK at an event in the Parliament’s garden lobby. I had the privilege of speaking to a range of incredible cancer innovators who are partnered with phenomenal universities across Scotland. This is the embodiment of the triple helix that we want to thrive for the benefit of our people—industry, academia and the NHS working together. That night, Dr Iain Foulkes, the executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, described the potential for rivalling the golden triangle with our own platinum triangle in Scotland, such is the level of world-leading research, innovation and human talent that we have.
I saw that for myself on a recent visit to the Edinburgh BioQuarter. With funding from the Multiple Sclerosis Society, it is using robots to screen thousands of possible drug treatments to help researchers to prioritise those with the best chance of success in clinical trials. Such partnerships can also support economic growth through increased investment, business spin-outs and the creation of high-value jobs. When he closes the debate, Richard Lochhead will touch on our cutting-edge companies and the economic benefits in that space.