The crisis in Scotland’s NHS is about more than a few plasters to stick over the wounds. As the Daily Record has shown this week in our NHS SOS investigation, there are major challenges for the health service that go beyond party politics.
The best thing about our health service is our NHS workers who go above and beyond their duties to care for the people of this country. But we do not have enough of them to keep the service working to ensure our sick, infirm and elderly get the treatment they deserve.
Workers are on their knees as they try to cope with increased demand although there are fewer skilled staff. We have revealed how delayed discharge is having a devastating impact on bed space, forcing ambulances to queue up outside hospitals, and the Covid hangover is still causing havoc.
We have also shown how Scots can help themselves by tackling obesity, alcoholism, drug-taking and smoking with thousands of admissions attributable to lifestyle factors. Real change, though, needs those in power to take action – and quickly – before all hope of saving our NHS is lost.
And it is time for a real, grown-up, cross-party discussion about where we go from here. We have been fair in our NHS SOS investigation, speaking to experts and frontline workers to get to the root of the problems we face.
We did not point the finger of blame at our political leaders. Saving the health service must be the number one priority for the Scottish Parliament – and could well be the defining issue of devolution era. Now it is time for MSPs at Holyrood to work together to alleviate the current health crisis and make sure the NHS is fit for purpose in the 21st century.
Power struggle
It is shameful that more than a quarter of Scottish households on pre-payment smart meters went without power between July and September last year. It is just not acceptable for an energy- rich country like Scotland to have tens of thousands of people without energy because they cannot afford it.
No one should be prevented from using electricity or heating their home. It is a basic human right. And going without them causes long-term problems to health and wellbeing.
What is most worrying is that these figures are just the “tip of the iceberg”, as East Lothian MP Kenny MacAskill put it. It is time to stop the forced installation of pre-payment meters, scrap increased tariffs for those on the meters and bring in a social tariff to give the poorest discounted energy costs.
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