The NHS is the greatest achievement of any government in the last 100 years. Since 1948, the NHS has provided vital healthcare free at the point of need and available to all in need.
There is not a single life in Scotland that has not been touched by the NHS. The service has delivered our children, cared for us in our times of need and has been there to support us as family members approach the end of their life.
It is a precious, civilising and humane institution. But the sad reality is that under the SNP, the NHS is no longer available and free at the point of need for the people of Scotland.
After nearly 20 years in charge of the NHS, the service has been left on its knees – unable to support the people of Scotland and pushing nurses and doctors to the limit.
The SNP has broken our NHS. As the Daily Record has revealed A&E waits of over half a day are 99 times more common now than a decade and a half ago. Thousands of Scots are paying the price of the SNP’s failure to support our NHS.
Almost one in six Scots are stuck in pain on NHS waiting lists. The number of Scots waiting more than 12 hours in A&E is 99 times higher than it was 14 years ago.
And cancer waiting times have been missed and missed again. And the result of this failure is that Scots are being forced to pay for their own care.
The number of people paying for private hospital admission has almost doubled in five years.
A third of all hip and knee replacements being done are now being paid for privately by patients. And the number of private GP practices has soared. The system is broken.
Just take this example – revealed by the Daily Record. Irene Hartshorn and Margaret McCaul were both diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer.
But due to lengthy waits in both of their health boards, Irene and Margaret were both forced to pay for chemotherapy and surgery to treat their cancer – costing tens of thousands of pounds.
In desperation, Irene and Margaret wrote an open letter to John Swinney asking, ‘do our lives not matter?’ This is the reality facing thousands of Scots every day.
We can’t go on like this. That’s why any Scottish government led by me would fix our NHS. We would return our NHS to its founding principles – making it both free and available for every Scot in need.
And we would lead a national effort to clear the backlogs, cut waiting lists and save lives. As First Minister, I would do anything it takes to save lives and save our NHS.
That’s why this weekend at Scottish Labour conference, we will lay out our vision to save the NHS and make it fit for the future. We will end the postcode lottery in NHS care and begin to reform our NHS by taking on bureaucracy and empowering nurses and doctors on the frontline.
My message to Daily Record readers is clear – I will fix the NHS and make sure Scottish taxpayers get the care they need.
Scots kids deserve to be able to swim
More than one in every four Scottish kids leave primary school unable to swim.
That’s thousands of children not only missing out on the joy of the sport and the chance to discover a talent, but being robbed of the health and safety benefit – and, as is so often the case, it is those in the most deprived communities who are most likely to miss out.
It’s not right that your postcode or your background determines whether you get the chance to swim.
That’s why Scottish Labour has set out our Chance To Swim plan, which would guarantee every primary five pupil in Scotland access to swimming classes.
Working in partnership with local councils and Scottish Swimming, a Scottish Labour government would end the scandalous postcode lottery facing young Scots and make sure everyone gets opportunity to learn these skills.
This is just one of the steps we would take to deliver a new direction and build a fairer, more inclusive Scotland, where every child gets can thrive.
From widening access to sports to reducing the attainment gap in our schools to tackling poverty at its root, a Scottish Labour government would make it our mission to ensure that a child’s background is never a block on their talent and potential.
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here