Swinney will soon be joining Sturgeon on Scotland’s list of ex first ministers, says Sarwar

Labour leader Anas Sarwar, John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon and First Minister Swinney.

By Bill Heaney

First Minister John Swinney openly declared his position as a committed YES man when he refused to be shouted down in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.

He told a rowdy session of First Minister’s Questions: “I convened a discussion at which stakeholders in the health service discussed all the challenges that we face. I am completely open about the fact that we face challenges in the health service in Scotland today.

“I am setting out the steps that we are taking to ensure that we have an immediate focus on ensuring that the resources are in place to drive down waiting times and to tackle delayed discharge. That is what we are doing.”

He revealed that one question was “on the damage and difficulty that will be faced by general practice because of the imposition of an increase in employer national insurance contributions.”

He added: “Is it not interesting that the Labour Party and the Labour leader are rather silent on the question of employer national insurance contributions?

“That is a classic example of the Westminster Government acting in a fashion that will damage the delivery of health and social care in Scotland.

“No amount of shouting at me by Labour members will distract me from pointing out to the public the damage that will be done because of that increase.

“What do we find out? We find out that Anas Sarwar [Labour leader in Scotland] is completely and utterly hopeless and powerless in the face of a UK Government that has taken a decision that will damage Scotland’s health and social care system.

“The people of Scotland know that this Government will protect the interests of Scotland when Anas Sarwar sells them out.”

Anas Sarwar hit back: “Our national health service and social care system is in permanent crisis under the Scottish National Party.

“One route to solving the crisis lies in tackling delayed discharge, where a patient is medically cleared to go home but cannot, often due to the lack of a care package.

“In the words of Dr Iain Kennedy of the British Medical Association, ‘The key to unlocking the front door of our hospitals lies at the back door.’

“However, under the SNP, delayed discharge has soared.”

Mr Sarwar said he had raised the case of a 68-year-old grandmother who is living with multiple sclerosis — “Despite being medically cleared to go home, she had to spend an extra two months in hospital waiting for a care package.

“In desperation, she took to wearing T-shirts that said, ‘Can I go home now?’ and ‘Bed blocker’. How have John Swinney and Neil Gray allowed the situation to get so bad?”

“One of the steps that we are taking to try to make the position better—I accept that the situation that Mr Sarwar has put to me is not acceptable—is to put in place a record funding settlement for the health service, which will strengthen social care.

“We are also delivering a real-terms increase in local authority budgets so that local authorities are able to contribute more to health and social care partnerships to ensure that more social care places are available at local level. Those are practical and tangible actions that the Government is taking to address the situation.”

“Over the past decade, we have had five health secretaries, and the cost of their collective failure to deal with the situation has risen to more than £1.5 billion. The biggest price has been paid by countless Scots who have been failed as the situation has deteriorated.

“However, apparently, we are not to worry. We are told that the self-described ‘full-on John’ is rolling up his sleeves and taking personal charge of the crisis that his party has created in our NHS.

“Given that he already rolled up his sleeves and wrecked our education system and rolled up his sleeves and wrecked the public finances, is it any wonder that Scots fear for the future of our NHS under the SNP?”

“Over the course of the past few weeks and months, a number of important steps have been taken by the Government to strengthen the availability of social care in our country.

“Some of the steps that we are taking are the expansion of frailty units, which are associated with A and E departments; the expansion of the hospital-at-home system, which is designed to care for individuals in their own homes and provide them with clinical care so that they avoid being in hospital; and the support that has been put in place in relation to the strengthening of general practitioner practices, which, of course, is not helped by the United Kingdom Government’s changes to employer national insurance contributions.

“Of course, there is a big decision coming up for the Parliament in the next few weeks—the decision about the budget. The budget delivers a record financial settlement for the health service and a real-terms increase for local authority funding to support the social care system. The big question is whether Labour will support the Government in our investment in the social care system.”

“Right now, on the SNP’s watch, more than 863,000 Scots are stuck on an NHS waiting list, and more than 100,000 of them have been waiting for more than a year to be seen. Right now, 2,000 Scots are stuck in hospital.

“Despite having been medically cleared to leave, they are unable to go home. No matter who it chooses as the latest health secretary, the SNP cannot deliver the new direction that our country needs.

“Instead, today, John Swinney will gut his National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, with years having been wasted, millions lost and not a single extra hour of care delivered. Is that not just the latest example that no good idea survives SNP incompetence?”