Audit Scotland warning the SNP Government may have to withdraw some health services to free up cash for the NHS is alarming.
It is all well and good for John Swinney to say the NHS will be his top priority in tomorrow’s Budget, but the report we highlight today shows how his party has not done enough to improve our NHS during its 17 years in office.
More money is going into the health service and it has an increased number of staff.
Any reasonable person would expect this would lead to better results but it is not happening.
Fewer patients are being seen than before the pandemic. One in six Scots is languishing on waiting lists.
The public is often facing long waits to see a GP.
Delayed discharge is at a record high and the NHS is missing three-quarters of waiting list targets.
Money is clearly not being spent efficiently enough. Tomorrow’s Budget must lead to change in our health service.
Increased funding is always welcome but the SNP must also lay out how they will reform the NHS and measure progress.
The service needs to be more efficient – the costs cannot go up and up without better outcomes. This will require
bold leadership from the Scottish Government and NHS leaders.
It is time for them to step up to the plate.
Gregg’s apology leaves bad taste
MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace may have judged thousands of wannabe chefs as they prepared dishes on the hit cookery show.
But his pathetic claim that allegations against him making inappropriate sexual comments came from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” suggests he is a recipe for disaster.
The TV host also claimed on Sunday there had only been “13 complaints” from “over 4000 contestants” he had worked with in 20 years on the BBC programme.
One of his accusers said Wallace’s suggestion that the allegations had all come from middle-class women of a certain age showed he “clearly hasn’t learned his lesson”, while many will come to the conclusion that he showed his true colours.
In a video posted on his Instagram story yesterday , he said: “I want to apologise for any offence that I caused with my post yesterday, and any upset I may have caused to a lot of people.”
Sorry, Gregg, it’s too little too late.
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