John Swinney’s big NHS speech was an admission the SNP has failed

He called for consensus and collaboration in tackling the NHS’s challenges, rather than “diktats from on high”. So let’s start with where I agree.

It’s in everyone’s interests to improve the NHS – it touches all our lives and the vast majority of politicians along with policymakers, charities, NHS staff and patients want to see it thrive despite the current challenges. But while I don’t doubt Swinney’s personal regard for the NHS, there were two gaping holes in his speech.

Failed recovery plan

Firstly, we have been here before. The SNP – which has been in power for nearly 18 years – announced an NHS recovery plan back in 2021. That plan was supposed to boost capacity, yet instead the National Treatment Centre programme was paused and is now scrapped.

It also promised an additional 1,000 community health workers but not a single one has been recruited. In other words, Swinney’s attempt to launch a fresh recovery plan was a tacit admission the first had failed.

The other thing that was missing from Swinney’s speech were the people who are the backbone of the NHS. He talked about hospitals and digital devices but very little about the anaesthetists, dentists, social care workers, nurses and doctors that the NHS needs if it is to deliver.

As I wrote last week, this failure to recruit and retain staff means the NHS has spent more than £900 million on agency nurses and locum doctors since 2019.

There is no point building more operating theatres if you don’t have enough theatre nurses or surgeons. And whilst there are 2,300 nursing vacancies, there is no point turning out nursing graduates if they are not given these jobs.

National Care Service plan scrapped

It’s also worth thinking about those at the bottom of the payscale. The SNP pledged to eradicate delayed discharge back in 2015, but as Swinney acknowledged, there are thousands of people right now who are medically fit to return home but cannot due to a lack of social care.

You wouldn’t be able to guess from Swinney’s speech that just last week, the SNP effectively scrapped its National Care Service Bill after spending nearly £30m on it.

Former SNP Health Secretary Jeane Freeman couldn’t hide her disappointment with the Scottish Government when she discussed the failed Bill with the BBC’s Sunday Show, saying the “government, unfortunately, went about it the wrong way” by focusing on structure rather than building on points of agreement.

Social care is a challenging, all-hours job that requires the strength and responsibility to physically and emotionally support someone with complex needs – often for just £12 an hour.

The need to recruit and retain health and social care staff should be a priority for the SNP government, which is why Labour is holding a parliamentary debate on the NHS workforce this week.

Working in health and social care has always been a fulfilling career – let us support the staff to make it so again.

Jackie Baillie is MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and her party’s spokesperson for health