Meeting of the Parliament 12 March 2026 [Draft]
I need to correct Mr Whittle on the point about more staff leaving the NHS. There are more staff working in the NHS under this Government than there have been in the past. As I said in my earlier answer, there has been a 75 per cent increase in the number of consultants in the NHS since the Government came into office. Therefore, that point is not substantiated.
Private heath admissions are lower in Scotland than in England and Wales. England’s private health admissions are 48 per cent higher, and Wales’s are 5 per cent higher, than they are in Scotland. We are in a comparatively stronger position.
On the performance of the national health service, I appreciate that there are challenges in the NHS, but long waits are down eight months in a row, and long waits for new out-patients have halved since July. The number of general practitioners, nurses, midwives and consultants is up, and there will be 16 new walk-in GP clinics. The SNP is delivering for the NHS, and I am very pleased with the progress that we are making.