Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care Michael Matheson has tendered his resignation to the First Minister.
Accepting his resignation, the First Minister thanked Mr Matheson for all he achieved during government, including securing £100 million of new annual funding for NHS Scotland to help reduce inpatient and day-case waiting lists, passing the Domestic Abuse Act to strengthen powers to tackle psychological abuse, passing the Transport Scotland Act to ensure Scotland’s transport system was more accessible for the future and introducing the Historical Offenses Bill to pardon gay men convinced under historical discriminatory laws.
MICHAEL MATHESON STATEMENT:
Odd timing, given he hasn’t seen the final report yet. And not a word of apology …
The Scottish Conservatives have been calling for the Health Secretary’s head for some time – and not only over his failure to fully explain the Ipad issue:
‘Waiting times in Scotland’s A&E departments continue to get worse under the SNP’s shameful mismanagement of our NHS.
‘The SNP have not met their target waiting time since July 2020, yet still Michael Matheson refuses to tackle this growing problem – he needs to go.’
A cross-party group of Edinburgh MSPs have come together to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Michael Matheson, highlighting the urgent need to fund a new Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh.
MSPs representing Scottish Labour, Scottish Conservatives, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alba, and the Scottish National Party have all co-signed the letter, in the run up to the capital spending allocation.
This letter reflects the strength of feeling of residents, right across Edinburgh towards the need for a new Eye Hospital in the city.
MSPs request Michael Matheson set out a clear timetable for the construction of a new Edinburgh Eye Hospital, after the current Eye Pavilion was declared not fit for purpose in 2014.
The MSPs have also called on Michael Matheson to consult with patients, visual impairment charities and elected representatives to achieve the best outcomes possible for Edinburgh and Lothian Residents.
The joint-letter follows a meeting of Edinburgh MSPs, Sight Scotland, Visibility Scotland and RNIB, at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 30th November, to discuss the situation in the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion.
During the meeting, MSPs heard moving testimonies from patients and staff about the dire state of current facilities and why a new hospital is so vital going forward.
All parties involved emphasised that continuing to rely on the current Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is not sustainable and will lead to deteriorating outcomes for patients and staff.
The MSPs who signed the joint letter are Sarah Boyack, Daniel Johnson, Foysol Choudhury, Miles Briggs, Jeremy Balfour, Ben Macpherson, Sue Webber, Alex Cole-Hamilton and Ash Regan.
The MSPs in attendance at the breakfast briefing were Sarah Boyack, Daniel Johnson, Miles Briggs, Ben Macpherson, Sue Webber. Alison Johnstone and Jeremy Balfour sent staff members, as they had previous engagements.
Commenting on the letter, Sarah Boyack said:“I am glad that MSPs across Edinburgh were able to come together to campaign for such a vital project.
“None of our constituents deserve to be relying on facilities that have been designated not fit for purpose, for over a decade.
“Michael Matheson needs to take note of the strength of feeling for this project – delivering the new Eye Pavilion is a priority for Edinburgh Residents
“As Edinburgh MSPs, we will continue to work together to ensure the best outcome for our constituents, and the city.”
Moments after the Prime Minister called to ask me to become Health and Social Care Secretary last Saturday night, I spoke to my teenage daughter in the kitchen (writes UK Health Secretary SAJID JAVID).
‘You won’t have much to sort out then, dad,’ she said sarcastically.
When I came back to Westminster on Sunday morning, I found the biggest in-tray I’ve had at any department – and I’ve run 5.
I’ve spent the last year working with Harvard University on how governments can learn from this pandemic and be better prepared for future challenges, now I’m the one faced with so many of those tough choices.
I feel both the heavy responsibility and urgency that comes with this job.
My first video call on vaccine progress had to be at the same time as the England-Germany match. It was all going well until JVT (Jonathan Van-Tam, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England) suddenly took off his headphones because he didn’t want to hear the score before he watched a recording of the match.
It was an honour to start the meeting by thanking the team who have delivered the rollout, including everyone in the NHS, the Vaccines Taskforce and the officials in my department.
Amid the endless policy memos and reams of data, I see 2 immediate challenges. The first is how we restore our freedoms and learn to live with (coronavirus) COVID-19. The second is to tackle the NHS backlog – something that we know is going to get far worse before it gets better.
We are on track for 19 July and we have to be honest with people about the fact that we cannot eliminate COVID-19.
We also need to be clear that cases are going to rise significantly. I know many people will be cautious about the easing of restrictions – that’s completely understandable. But no date we choose will ever come without risk, so we have to take a broad and balanced view. We are going to have to learn to accept the existence of COVID-19 and find ways to cope with it – just as we already do with flu.
The economic arguments for opening up are well known, but for me, the health arguments are equally compelling. The pandemic has hit some groups disproportionately hard.
Rules that we have had to put in place have caused a shocking rise in domestic violence and a terrible impact on so many people’s mental health. All the progress we have made is thanks to the sacrifices of the British people – and our phenomenal vaccine programme.
The jabs are working. The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 8 in 10 UK adults have the COVID-19 antibodies that help the body fight the disease. The implications of this are huge.
Tragically, the last time we had 28,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a day, we saw about 500 people die each day. On Friday, we had almost 28,000 cases a day, but 24 times fewer people lost their lives.
There will always be the possibility that we have to deal with dangerous new variants that evade the vaccine but I encourage everyone to get their jabs now if they haven’t already done so. It is the single biggest contribution you can make to this national effort.
We have many other crucial health challenges that we need to confront. We protected the NHS to make sure it was there for everyone who needed care. The steps we took saved countless lives but also led to the build-up of a vast ‘elective’ backlog – checks, appointments and treatments for all the less urgent, but often just as important, health issues.
Because of the pandemic, we estimate that about 7 million fewer people than normal came forward for healthcare. Even if only some of that demand returns, we will see enormous pressure on the NHS.
To help meet this demand, build a better NHS and bust the backlog, we need to build on the changes we’ve all embraced through the pandemic, such as using NHS 111 to direct patients to the most appropriate setting to receive care, expanding the use of our pharmacies and encouraging more people to use the NHS app.
We have to keep doing all of that, and more.
Of course, if you are feeling unwell, you need to come forward. The NHS is always there for you – and now in many different ways.
We’re putting record levels of funding into the NHS. In March, we committed a further £7 billion of funding – including £1 billion to begin tackling the elective backlog and about £500 million for mental health services and investment in staff.
And we’re bringing so many more talented colleagues into the workforce. We have record numbers employed in the NHS, with more than 58,300 more staff in hospital and community health services since March last year, including over 5,600 more doctors and 10,800 nurses.
We’re also embracing technology to help staff spend less time on paperwork and more on patients.
It’s time to build on the spirit of innovation we’ve all embraced and use it for the other challenges we face: from finally fixing social care and putting it on a sustainable footing, to tackling the health inequalities that the pandemic has brought to the fore.
I’m determined we get that right.
There’s a lot of work ahead, but if we hold on to the spirit that has seen us through these difficult days, we will have a country that is not just freer, but healthier, too.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is likely to confirm later today that all COVID restrictions will be lifted in England from 19th July, so-called ‘Freedom Day’, despite a rising number of COVID cases.
Scotland is more cautious, with a tentative date of 9th August, and Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to make any decision on further relaxation on restrictions.
On Tuesday this week, Miles Briggs MSP asked Jeane Freeman MSP what her response was to concerns raised by the former chair of NHS Lothian regarding the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health stated: “I stress that, on 4 July, I took the decision to halt the move. Mr Houston next met me on 18 July. At no point in the intervening period did he – the chair of a major NHS board – feel that it was incumbent upon him to contact me, as the cabinet secretary, to discuss what might have gone wrong or what should be done next and where the board should be involved.”
It has since transpired that the Cabinet Secretary for Health was contacted by Mr Houston by email on 12 July, despite Parliament being repeatedly told otherwise.
The Scottish Government have refuted that Parliament had been misled on the grounds that the email by Mr Houston did not refer to specific issues.
The correspondence from Mr Houston referred to the “RHCYP/DCN situation” as well as assurances that himself and the board were handling the situation and an offer to meet for a 1 to 1 chat prior to the meeting on the 18th July.
Scottish Conservative Health Spokesperson, Miles Briggs, said: “It truly beggars belief that while Jeane Freeman was answering allegations of lying, she misleads the Scottish Parliament.
“The Health Secretary’s transparent attempts to smear Mr Houston have been exposed for what they are.
“The truth is that Jeane Freeman simply refuses to take responsibility for the mess at the Sick Kids hospital and continues to blame everyone but herself.
“It is clear that Mr Houston did attempt to contact the Cabinet Secretary for Health prior to the 18th July, but was ignored by her, as he has been since Ms Freeman took up the post.”
