By Lucy Ashton
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today branded the SNP a disaster for local health care as new figures revealed significant falls in how people rate the quality of care they have received.
The Health and Care Experience Survey 2021/22 published today revealed that:
- 67% rated the care provided by their GP practice positively, down from 90% in 2009/10
- The percentage of people rating their care services as either excellent or good has fallen from 83% to 62% since 2013/14.
- Just 44% reported positive experiences arranging to see a mental health professional.
Mr Cole-Hamilton, pictured right by Alan Simpson, said: “15 years of SNP misrule has been a disaster for local health care. Staff on the frontline were sounding the alarm for years but ministers chose to put their fingers in their ears.
“For those who can get an appointment, standards of care across our NHS remain high thanks to the hard work of staff but even getting to see a GP or a mental health worker can feel like a lottery.
“Over the coming months Scottish Liberal Democrats will push for a rapid recruitment programme to put new staff into local services, including new mental health staff in every surgery and through a far better deal for social care staff.
“Patients and staff deserve better than more years of SNP failure.”
ENDS
Privatisation is the big thing coming down the tracks. Westminster Tories have been itching for a long time to privatise the NHS and in England big strides have been made to introduce more and more private contractors into the NHS.
But Scotland is part of the UK. The UK is out of the EU and itching to get trade deals with the US. These trade deals specifically include medical services and there are big corporates similarly itching to take over the running of entire NHS hospitals.
And if anyone thinks Scotland will be exempt then they can think again. Privatisation or the resistance to it is not in the power of the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament does not see itself as a sovereign party. Rather it, or most of the members including the SNP, see it as a subsidiary entity to Westminster. The international treaty of the Act of Union is now being held as of no importance. Only Westminster can decide.
And for that Scotland will suffer. Already we are seeing the absolute deterioration of medical services which is very much a prelude to inculcating the acceptance that if you want something you pay for it. People’s capitalism. Just like the gas and electricity privatisations where a utopian market would let people pick and choose who they wanted to supply their gas and electricity. And where has that gone now. Well folks are absolutely free to buy as much gas and electricity as the want.
Indeed, some years ago when asking the question about what level of households were being left disconnected with no electricity or gas due to the meter having run out, the chairman of the utilities group responded that ” we do not keep records of voluntary disconnections…………but we can confirm that there were no forced disconnections ”
And so from that we should beware the impending privatisations. If you can’t pay then its your choice to go without treatment. But really, does the average voter care. I truly don’t think so or they would have done something about corporate greed in essential services like gas and electricity before now.