During yesterday’s health debate, at least three of us from three different parties spoke in favour of establishing a national care service, discussing the need for a refocus on not-for-profit care. I would be interested to know what the First Minister thinks about having a national care service and how she thinks we could progress that idea collectively and constructively across the Parliament.

I read the

Official Report of yesterday’s debate and I saw the comments that were made. I have huge sympathy with the idea. Without going into all of the detail, for reasons that I will talk about, I think that it is an example of how we need to be prepared to rethink old ways of doing things and to contemplate new and potentially better ways. I hope that there might be some cross-party willingness to examine the idea of a national care service. There are huge complexities and challenges associated with the idea, and none of us should underplay those, but there is a range of ways in which we will want to rethink how we have done things in the past.

I am very happy—and, indeed, keen and anxious—to engage in a more detailed way in this debate and in other similar debates in the future. Right now, of course, my main focus is on getting through the crisis and dealing with the issues and the steps that we must take in order to do that, but I pay tribute to Angela Constance and others for even putting these things on the agenda at this stage.

I think that we should agree on and unite behind the idea that, although this crisis is not one that any of us would in any way have wished to experience, it offers an opportunity for us to think about doing things differently, and we should grasp that opportunity with both hands.