This is the last article you can read this month
You can read more article this month
You can read more articles this month
Sorry your limit is up for this month
Reset on:
Please help support the Morning Star by subscribing here
THE SNP First Minister’s plans for NHS Scotland amount to little more than “jam tomorrow” without moves to solve its staffing crisis, according the service’s biggest union.
Unison issued the warning as John Swinney outlined his vision for the future of healthcare in Scotland at Heriot-Watt University’s National Robotarium in Edinburgh.
The announcement came as Scottish Health Secretary Neil Gray remains under fire for the use of an official vehicle to travel to Aberdeen football matches and his government reels from the ditching of its national care service proposals.
Mr Swinney focused on the how the NHS crises, which have left hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland languishing on waiting lists, could be tackled.
Calling those waiting lists the “canary in the coalmine,” he admitted patients were not getting “the right care in the right place at the right time.”
Announcing plans to for 150,000 more appointments and procedures at an undetermined future date, he promised £10.5 million in extra funding for GPs as part of renewed efforts to grow community-based care to relieve struggling hospitals.
He said: “The first and most important thing on many people’s minds is how long it can take to access services: delays in access with waiting times too long, and delays in discharge because appropriate at-home or in-community care is not available.
“That is not acceptable to me, it is not acceptable to my government.
“It is the very definition of a vicious circle and it has to come to an end.”
Mr Swinney suggested some hospitals, such as Stracathro in Brechin and Gartnavel in Glasgow, could become “centres of excellence” to clear a record-breaking waiting list of 600,000 for procedures such as cataracts or orthopaedics.
Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie said: “It’s just a shame it’s taken the SNP nearly 18 years to take action,” warning that “NHS workers are voting with their feet” — a sentiment echoed by Unison Scotland, which represents 60,000 such people.
The union’s co-lead for health, Matt McLaughlin, warned: “Patients and staff need action from John Swinney now.
“Promises of ‘jam tomorrow’ won’t solve the many critical problems the NHS is facing today.
“The NHS has a staffing crisis. NHS workers need to know how the government will fill vacancies, improve pay, transform social care and give better patient care.”