On Saturday, we marked International Women’s Day – a time to celebrate progress but also to reflect on the work still to be done.
Too often in Scotland, when our government fails, it is women who pay the price and who are expected to pick up the pieces.
Nowhere is that clearer than in women’s health. Right now, our NHS is failing women in the most fundamental way, making them wait months on end for life-saving tests.
Women are being left to face unbearable delays for treatment, forcing many to spend money they don’t have on private care. One of the most alarming examples is *waits for cervical cancer tests*.
Today, Scottish Labour is revealing that women referred for a colposcopy – a crucial follow-up procedure after an abnormal smear test – are waiting months for an answer.
In NHS Tayside, some women are waiting up to 266 days. In NHS Borders and NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the waits have stretched to 259 and 238 days, respectively.
These are not routine appointments – they are urgent referrals to investigate possible cancer.
Thousands of women across Scotland are left waiting in fear, month after month— fearing the worst, and feeling utterly abandoned.
This is just one example of an NHS in crisis. Waiting times have more than doubled in some health boards since 2019, and while we await full data for 2024 the trends are already clear.
The problem is getting worse, not better. The NHS was founded on a simple but powerful principle: care should be free and available at the point of need.
But as our NHS falls further into chaos, women’s healthcare lands at the bottom of the pile. Women are told to make do with a health and social care system that fails to meet their needs, they are also expected to keep it running.
Women-dominated professions like nursing and social care have been carrying services through crisis after crisis. This crisis is not just impacting patients, it is forcing NHS workers to make impossible choices.
Consider the case of an NHS support worker from the west of Scotland I raised this week.
She has worked in our NHS for 35 years, dedicating her life to helping others. But when she could no longer walk due to a deteriorating hip, she was told she would have to wait three years for treatment. Her only option to end her pain and return to work was to withdraw money from her modest pension to pay privately—at a cost of £24,000.
She is not alone. In just the last nine months, *Scots have been forced to pay out of their own pocket for over 36,500 procedures in private hospitals.*
Scots have spent an estimated £17.6 million on cataract treatments, £30.8 million on hip replacements, and £16 million on knee surgeries.
Most shockingly, 700 rounds of chemotherapy – cancer treatment that should be freely available – have been paid for by patients themselves.
That is the reality of healthcare under the SNP. A system so broken that people are being forced to go private for cancer treatment.
We cannot go on like this. Doctors, nurses, and NHS staff are working harder than ever, but they are being let down by a government that has failed to plan, failed to invest, and failed the people of Scotland.
That’s why, as First Minister, I will declare a Waiting Times Emergency. I will take action to cut waiting lists by investing in frontline care and tackling the bureaucracy that is holding our NHS back.
No woman in Scotland should have to wait months for life-saving tests and treatment. The SNP broke our NHS, they will not be the ones to fix it. Scottish Labour will.
It’s time to rebuild Scotland’s NHS so that it is there when people need it – free, available, and working for everyone. It’s time for a new direction.
Labour is acting to secure the UK’s defence
Global events are reshaping the world before our eyes – all political parties and both of Scotland’s governments must adjust to that new reality.
Grown-up, serious politicians must rise to this generation defining moment and be willing to reexamine previous redlines. The first priority of any government is to keep our country safe.
That’s why we need a renewed focus on national security – that is conventional defence, but it is also energy and economic security too.
I welcome the UK Labour Government’s commitment to increasing defence spending. Scotland’s proud history in shipbuilding, engineering, and manufacturing means this will disproportionately benefit us here.
It will mean significant investment to revitalise industries, provide opportunities for jobs and skills development. But if we are to confront all our national security challenges then we need a broader rethink in Holyrood and Westminster, from energy to cybersecurity.
It must mean a focus on skills—expanding apprenticeships and training to ensure Scotland leads in advanced technology.
It means maximising our own potential to deliver energy security so that we aren’t reliant on despotic regimes like Russia.
The Prime Minister Keir Starmer has demonstrated global leadership and is starting some of this vital work. We need a Scottish Government that is serious about playing its part too.
Now is the time to act, securing our national – defence, energy and economic – security future.
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