National Health Service

First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 7 November 2024.

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Photo of Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar Labour

Statistics obtained by Scottish Labour show that almost 9,000 Scots waited more than 24 hours in accident and emergency up to the end of September this year—that is a full day waiting for treatment. That is more than the entire number that waited a full day in 2023 and, unbelievably, almost 200 Scots waited more than two days in A and E.

That is just a snapshot of the crisis in our NHS. Week after week, I come to the chamber and expose how the Scottish National Party is failing staff and patients in our NHS; week after week, John Swinney plays it down and tries to explain away the deadly crisis on his watch. Will he finally admit that the SNP cannot be trusted with our NHS and that we need a new direction?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

No. We do not need a new direction; we need to sustain the investment that the Government has been making in the national health service for the past 17 years. The Government has gone beyond the investment that has comparatively been undertaken by the Barnett consequentials from the United Kingdom Government. The Government has been prepared to invest in the NHS in excess of the Barnett consequentials on health, because we have taken the tough decisions to do so.

I acknowledge that there are challenges in the NHS—I do so on every occasion that members come forward with their points—and I apologise to any individual who waits longer than they should do. However, the Government is focused on ensuring that we deliver an effective health service that meets the needs of people in Scotland, and that is the direction that we will follow.

Photo of Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar Labour

Week after week, John Swinney comes to the Parliament and apologises for the performance of his Government. He says that there is no need for a new direction, but the reality is that John Swinney and the SNP have no meaningful plan, no strategy and no ideas to save our NHS. The situation has actually got worse since he became First Minister: by September, more people had waited 24 hours in A and E than did in the entirety of last year.

Scots cannot continue to pay the price of SNP incompetence. We do need a change of direction. As part of Labour’s transformative budget, the Scottish Government will receive an additional £789 million for our NHS this year and an additional £1.72 billion for it next year. However, that vital new money cannot be wasted by continued SNP financial mismanagement and incompetence. Put simply, more of the same will not cut it. Will John Swinney commit to using that money to tackle long waits and to reform our NHS so that it is fit for the future?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

In the past 12 months, there has been an increase in the number of operations performed in the NHS. In the 12 months to June 2024, outpatient activity increased over the previous 12 months. There have been more than 1.5 million attendances at A and E departments, and, on this Government’s watch, there has been an 82 per cent increase in the A and E consultant headcount, compared with 10 years ago. I say to Mr Sarwar that we are investing, and that we are fully aware of the challenges that we face and are addressing them.

Mr Sarwar went on to talk about the budget. From what I said last week, he knows that I welcome the investment that has been made in public expenditure as a consequence of the budget, and I give him the absolute assurance that that will be invested in strengthening, reforming and improving the national health service. However, there is one challenge in all of that: that expenditure will be able to be deployed only if there is a parliamentary majority in favour of supporting our budget. So, Mr Sarwar is not an innocent bystander on that question. If Mr Sarwar wants the money to be spent, he should vote for the budget.

Photo of Anas Sarwar Anas Sarwar Labour

New money is one thing; what is done with that money to change the direction of our country is another, and I note that there are actually 50,000 fewer planned operations compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Scottish Labour has a plan to fix the NHS and make it fit for the future by cutting bureaucracy, investing in new technology, prioritising wraparound community care and creating dedicated teams to clear the backlogs. However, all we have from this SNP Government is continued denial and a hunt for excuses.

On John Swinney’s watch, one in six Scots is stuck on an NHS waiting list, delayed discharge rates are sky high, cancer treatment standard targets are missed again and again, families are being forced to take out loans or remortgage their homes to pay for private treatment, and NHS staff are feeling burnt out and let down. That is the deadly legacy of the SNP’s incompetence. The Scottish Government has the money and it has the powers, and it has now run out of excuses. Will John Swinney tell the people of Scotland when they will finally have an NHS that is there when they need it, or do we need to wait for a change of Government in 2026 for us to get our NHS back?

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I do not think that Mr Sarwar listened to my second answer, which was quite clear. I set out the strengthened measures that we have taken to expand the capacity of the national health service—[ Interruption .]

Photo of John Swinney John Swinney Scottish National Party

I acknowledge the challenges that we face in the NHS, and I welcome the fact that we have the opportunity for further investment as a result of the United Kingdom budget. I do not know why Mr Sarwar cannot just embrace my positive and constructive contribution to the discussion.

If Mr Sarwar wants to have an engaged conversation about how we can deliver investment to the NHS, I suggest that he takes seriously the offer from the Government to engage around the budget process. I come back to my fundamental point: it is all very well getting the allocations of money from the UK Government, but that money cannot be spent unless this Parliament approves a budget, and that places a responsibility on Mr Sarwar and the Labour Party.