John Swinney has admitted the NHS is in “crisis” as he relaunched the Government’s plan to save the health service. The First Minster tore up earlier strategies in an attempt at slashing waiting times and tackling the “canary in the coalmine” of delayed discharge.
He also insisted embattled Health Secretary Neil Gray will still be in the job by the autumn.
Swinney told the Record this month the NHS is the public service that is struggling the most. Over 800,000 Scots are waiting for treatment, patients are struggling to access GP appointments and vulnerable people are being left in hospital corridors.
In a speech on the NHS at Heriot Watt University, Swinney spoke of the “crises” facing too many parts of the NHS. This was in contrast to Gray, who denied in September the service was in crisis.
Swinney, who has effectively taken over the leadership response from his Health Secretary, said the Government will deliver 150,000 extra appointments or procedures in the coming year. Central to the plan is ensuring that care can be delivered in the home or in a local community, rather than at hospital or A+E.
He announced £10.5m extra in funding for GPs and also pledged the creation of “frailty teams” at every A+E to help those who could “bypass” emergency departments and free up capacity.
Swinney said: “The first and most important thing on many people’s minds is how long it can take to access services. Delays in access, with waiting times that are too long, and delays in discharge, because appropriate at home or in community care is not available. The two, of course, are fundamentally connected.
“Last year, I referred to delayed discharge as the canary in the coal mine of our National Health Service. I think of waiting times in much the same way. Both these delays tell us that the flow of people through the health system is not happening as it should. Put more simply, people are not getting the right care in the right place, at the right time.
He said this situation creates “greater strain” across the system and amounts to a “vicious circle”. He said of the 150,000 extra treatments for patients: “That includes 10,000 extra procedures through smarter working in the National Treatment Centres.
“Other sites – including Gartnavel, Inverclyde, Stracathro, Perth Royal Infirmary and Queen Margaret Hospital – will deliver 9,500 extra cataract procedures. As well as 2,500 extra orthopaedic appointments and procedures – operations such as hip or knee replacements.”
He also described an app which will be created for the NHS as the “digital front door” to the health service. “Over time, it will become an ever more central, ever more important access and managing point for care in Scotland,” he said.
Matt McLaughlin at health service trade union Unison said: “After almost 20 years John Swinney has delivered the same old promises.”
“The First Minister’s renewal framework, launched today, doesn’t begin to tackle the social care crisis, and staff will be angry after he said they ‘need to do more laps of the track’. NHS staff are working flat out, and they want to know what the government will do now to tackle short staffing, over capacity and workforce stress – so they can get on delivering for patients.”
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