LABOUR - CRAIG SMITH

Covid-19 has reminded us all of the crucial value of our NHS, available to everyone in their time of need and keeping us safe from disease.

In the face of the pandemic, health and care services sprang into action.

In 2020 there were over 43,000 breast cancer screening appointments cancelled by the NHS and at least 180,000 cervical screening tests were delayed.

With 7000 missing cancer diagnoses, we urgently need to get these programmes back up to speed and identify those who need treatment. Scottish Labour will implement a catch-up initiative across our screening programmes by increasing staff and processing capacity in screening services to clear the backlog of appointments by the end of 2021/22.

Scottish Labour will improve mental health care and support. The current Government have never met their 18 week waiting times target and most recent figures show that there are more than 1,500 young people who have been waiting over a year. Scottish Labour will reform the system and implement a new referral and triage service to operate a“no wrong door” approach and ensure that every referral is signposted to the right support and no person is rejected.

Although we welcome the announcement of a four per cent pay rise for NHS staff in Scotland, after the budget announcement and on the last day of parliament sitting before campaigning commenced, it is however, a real term decreases in the value of staff pay means there is a need for a sustainable and long-term pay deal for the workforce. Scottish Labour will prioritise lifting the salaries of the lowest paid and ensuring that NHS Scotland is an attractive place to train and work.