Cole-Hamilton slams SNP for more miserable health figures

Edinburgh North Western Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton has criticised the SNP for presiding over thousands of people waiting hours at A&E with huge numbers of patients marooned in hospital.

Alex said that: “the fact that there were virtually no 12 hour waits when the SNP first took power shows just how much they have failed. To cut these horrific waits, we need to fix the broken care system.

“The gaps in community care are a bottleneck that’s causing 2,000 people a night to be marooned in hospital when they don’t need or want to be there. Lots of these patients are medically ready to leave hospital but are prevented from doing so because of a shortage of care workers and care packages. The SNP promised to get on top of this problem a decade ago but it’s now costing the NHS an eyewatering £1.2 million a day. You simply cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care. We want to boost pay and conditions, establish clear career pathways so more people choose to work in care and create new housing reserved for key workers.”

Alex went on to call out the Scottish Government for long waits for mental health care and worrying vacancies amid nursing and midwifery staff.

“On the SNP’s watch, people are facing endless waits for mental health care, which only risks problems getting worse. My party have proposed training and recruiting more professionals. We want to put them close to where you live in locations like your local surgery and new walk-in mental health centres. Scotland deserves world-class mental health services, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to end years of SNP neglect.”

“The problems with nursing vacancies can be traced all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP cutting training places and claiming that was ‘sensible’. With staff now run ragged, they are struggling to provide the high-quality care patients need, and many are reaching for the door. My party want better for our nurses and midwives so we can deliver first-rate healthcare to everyone.

“There needs to be a proper 10-year workforce plan for NHS and care to get on top of what they need.”