Scots should not have to go private to end the pain of a broken NHS

Heroes. The pride of Scotland. The backbone of our country. Champions.

This is how Scotland’s NHS workers were routinely described by political figures and commentators throughout the Covid pandemic.

As the country clapped for our carers, politicians of all stripes pledged to use the experience of the pandemic to rebuild our NHS, to support NHS workers, to invest in social care and make both services fit for the future.

Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf, John Swinney and the current Health Secretary all pledged to deliver an NHS fit for heroes after the pandemic that would deliver for staff and for patients. This week we have seen a perfect example of the complete failure of the SNP to deliver on this promise.

Newspaper reports this week have shown how years of government incompetence have plunged our ambulance service into complete disarray. Reports from the frontline revealed a service in crisis – with lives being lost as a result.

A survey of ambulance staff showed 53 per cent of all paramedics and technicians had been involved in fatal “adverse clinical events” due to long hospital turnaround times. At the same time the survey revealed appalling conditions for staff – regularly having to work excessively long-shifts – with 84 per cent having worked more than 12 hours on a shift.

At its worst, staff have been recorded working shifts of 23 hours – almost a full day. It is little surprise that many ambulance staff feel undervalued, overworked and burned out.

We cannot have Scotland’s ambulance workers under mounting pressure and facing dangerous workloads due to structural issues in the Scottish Ambulance Service and the NHS – but under the SNP, this has become the norm.   As we speak, almost one in six Scots are stuck on an NHS waiting list. As a result, thousands of Scots have been forced to empty their savings accounts or re-mortgage their home to afford private healthcare to end the pain.

The total number of self-pay private hospital admissions in Scotland in 2023 was 21,000 – 11 per cent higher than 2022, and a third of all hip and knee arthroplasty operations in 2023 were paid for privately.  

NHS dentistry too is at risk of collapse, with Scottish Labour FOIs revealing that at least 36,818 Scots have left NHS dentists for private dental care since 2019 and more and more dentists are unable to take more NHS patients.  But with private operations costing as much as £14,342, private healthcare remains out of reach for the typical Scots household with £6,700 of financial savings. 

The fact is that SNP incompetence has crashed our NHS and created a society where the price of poverty is pain, while those with the money are forced to go private.  Four years on from the pandemic - and 17 years on from the SNP gaining power - all the promises and pledges of change for our NHS and its workers have vanished into air.  

We cannot go on like this.  Labour founded the NHS to serve people in need, no matter of their background.  And it falls to us again to save the NHS from the SNP.  That’s why Scottish Labour has a plan to tackle waste and bureaucracy, cut red tape, and put power into the hands of those who know our NHS best – doctors and nurses.  At the same time we will make use of the latest medical technology to speed up treatment, and we will invest to cut NHS waiting lists by delivering more appointments.  Our NHS doesn’t need more warm words – it needs action.

-Jackie Baillie is the MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour Deputy Leader and Spokesperson for Health and Social Care