Jackie Baillie is right to say the NHS is in crisis. It’s no secret our health service is struggling to meet demand. Too many Scots are left waiting for eight hours or more in A&E wards across the country each week.
The prospect of a long-awaited hip or knee replacement grows ever more distant for many people. The backlog of non-essential operations continues to grow in some health boards.
Scottish Labour asked tough questions of health secretary Humza Yousaf at Holyrood yesterday. But everyone has the right to demand high standards from our NHS. It is a cherished institution.
We will all have to rely on the health service some day. It’s in our collective interest to see it prosper. Right now it is struggling and staff know it only too well.
The Scottish Government insists its five-year plan will go someway to easing the pressure facing hospitals. Critics warn it won’t do enough to fix the mounting problems already facing overworked staff.
We can’t allow a situation to persist where people put off visiting a hospital because they worry they won’t be seen. Patients must be the top priority for the NHS.
Yousaf has one of the most difficult jobs in government. No one can underestimate the challenges his team faces.
But improvements must be made and fast and if they are not, the Scottish Government must carry the can.
If more funding is required, it must be found. If more staff are needed, they must be hired. The future of our health service is at stake.
Same old Tories
The only correct decision Liz Truss made in her 44-day premiership was firing Suella Braverman as Home Secretary.
The right-winger was axed after an appalling security lapse in which she sent confidential documents to Tories outside the Government.
It was a clear breach of the ministerial code and she rightly paid for it with her job, Despite promising to bring
“integrity” to Number 10, new PM Rishi Sunak reinstalled her in the same post six days later.
This appointment was nothing to do with merit or ability, as Braverman’s conduct should have seen her banished to the backbenches for good.
It had everything to do with her giving Sunak a vital endorsement that smoothed his path to power. Sunak is guilty of doling out political favours to a second-rater simply because she helped him.
The same old Tories remain in Downing Street.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
