Nicola Sturgeon is being urged to put in place a clear long-term plan for Scotland’s NHS – with the UK budget set to smash the scaremongering claims she made prior to the Independence referendum, according to the Scottish Conservatives.
Tomorrow’s Commons statement by the Chancellor is expected to confirm a £20 billion boost for the NHS across the UK – with an extra £2 billion dedicated for Scotland by 2022.
The Scottish Conservatives are today calling on the SNP to guarantee every penny goes to health and social care in order to help tackle the deficiencies outlined by last week’s damning Audit Scotland report.
The party is also calling on the SNP to admit claims they made during the referendum campaign – when they claimed the NHS would be hit by “hugely damaging cuts” have been proven to be false.
And setting out their own plans, the party is calling for the SNP to put the NHS Scotland on a secure long-term footing by boosting spending on GP services, rooting out ineffiencies, shifting more spending towards preventative care, and boosting cancer treatment.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: “Four years ago, Nicola Sturgeon tried to scare people into voting for independence by claiming a No vote would lead to cuts to our NHS. It was scaremongering then, and it’s now proven to be nonsense.
“The First Minister loves to preach to others about the false claims made in referendums – perhaps this week she should admit to her own.
“As health chiefs south of the border have made clear, tomorrow’s Budget deal will put the NHS on a firm footing, so we can improve care for patients over the long term. We now need the SNP to show the same ambition.
“As Health Secretary, it was Nicola Sturgeon herself who cut the number of training places for nurses and midwives in Scotland. That spectacular error of judgement has created the workforce crisis in Scotland that see a shortage of over 3,200 nurses and midwives in our NHS today.
“Every penny the SNP receives this week in extra NHS spending should go on health and care in Scotland. We need to see more of our funding going to support GPs on the front line. We need to see improvements to cancer treatment and it is time to cut the waste and inefficiency that is stopping doctors and nurses from getting on with their jobs.
“The NHS in Scotland has a bright future. The SNP has run out of excuses. Let’s see Nicola Sturgeon set out a plan not a grievance for once.”
The Scottish Conservatives are today setting out 5 proposals for how the SNP could improve the NHS following the Budget this week.
- The SNP must pass on all the extra health spending from the rest of the UK to Scottish health and social care.
HM Treasury figures show that health spending in England increased by 20.1 per cent between 2011-12 and 2016-17, but only increased by 14 per cent in Scotland over the same time period. If it had increased at the same rate, NHS Scotland would have over £676 million more to spend (HMT, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2017: Table 9.11, 20 July 2017, link; HMT, Country and regional analysis 2017: Table A.11, 9 November 2017, link).
- The SNP must spend more of the NHS budget on the GP front line, to meet the target of 11% spent on general practice.
Currently, Scotland spends less of its health spending on General Practice than elsewhere in the UK. Consequently, we are seeing a crisis in surgeries around Scotland, with fears the country could be short of as many as 900 GPs in the next few years. The Scottish Conservatives want more of the NHS budget to go straight to the family doctor. That way they can do more at the front line and prevent more patients from having to go to hospital.
- The SNP should set a new target – to make Scotland the best country in the world to beat Cancer
Every day in Scotland 100 people will have a new cancer diagnosis. How we can transform services to deliver better supportive care as well as the best use of resources and services is vital. By 2027 it is estimated that around 40,000 cases of cancer will be discovered in Scotland every year. We need to act. As a start, the SNP should look at fast track cancer referral for GPs, and guarantee time off work for cancer screening.
- Shifting the balance towards preventative health & wellbeing
The best way to help our NHS cope with rising demand is to cut it off at source – by focussing on measures to improve health. The Scottish Conservatives have set out plans to improve healthy living and healthy eating and the SNP must use the extra funds coming to ensure more cash is spent keeping people well.
- Create a truly efficient NHS
The SNP has presided over far too much waste in the NHS. For example, spending on agency staff has shot up in recent years due to poor workforce planning. With a multi-year spending plan now coming through, the SNP has the chance to think long term and drive out inefficiencies from the system, and by focussing on the recruitment and retention of staff
Last week the Scottish Government published a new plan to direct more than £850 million of investment to substantially and sustainably improve NHS waiting times.
• increasing capacity across the system
• increasing clinical effectiveness and efficiency
• designing and implementing new models of care
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