- Four in five NHS trusts missing cancer target as Lib Dems call for health service to be number one priority at the Budget
- Cole-Hamilton files parliamentary motion on antisocial behaviour
- Rennie comments as metal tycoon faces prosecution over accounts
- Cole-Hamilton raises ADHD waits with First Minister
- Rennie responds to Audit Scotland report
Four in five NHS trusts missing cancer target as Lib Dems call for health service to be number one priority at the Budget
Responding to the latest NHS data which shows that 123 NHS Trusts, 82.5%, missed their cancer waiting time target in August of treating 85% of patients within 62-days of an urgent referral, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:
Having a cancer diagnosis is one of the most terrifying moments of anyone’s life. Everyone should get the treatment and care they need when they need it. Sadly, we have heard countless stories where that is just not the case.
The previous Conservative government’s neglect and mismanagement of the NHS has left vital services struggling to provide care and hospitals crumbling. The Conservative Party has proven itself unfit to ever be trusted with our health service again.
It is now down to the new government to rise to the greatest challenge facing our country, rescuing the NHS. That means treating it as the number one priority at the Budget, to get our health service the resources it needs to get patients the life saving care they deserve.
Cole-Hamilton files parliamentary motion on antisocial behaviour
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has filed a parliamentary motion on antisocial behaviour which calls on the Scottish Government to strengthen police and community responses to ensure that all reports of antisocial behaviour are taken seriously and effectively addressed.
Mr Cole-Hamilton previously raised this issue with the First Minister, John Swinney, as he called on the SNP government to address antisocial driving across the country.
The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader is also calling for councils to be given powers to install and operate speed cameras in their areas so that communities are empowered to help tackle antisocial driving.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said:
I am tabling this motion because I have seen the incredibly harmful impact of antisocial behaviour on the communities it blights.
I recently raised the issue with the First Minister in the Scottish Parliament after chairing a community meeting in South Queensferry, where residents spoke of the antisocial driving and racing going on in their streets.
I believe that one of the ways we can address this is by giving councils the power over speed cameras in their areas. This will enable them to install the cameras in known hotspots and use the revenues from speeding fines to adopt road safety measures.
Nobody should have to suffer the misery caused by antisocial behaviour. It’s time we used the powers of our parliament and Scottish local authorities to work together towards a lasting solution.
Rennie comments as metal tycoon faces prosecution over accounts
Responding to the news that steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta, who owns the Dalzell steel plant in Motherwell and the Lochaber aluminium smelter, is being prosecuted over his alleged failure to file accounts for more than 70 companies, Scottish Liberal Democrat economy spokesperson Willie Rennie said:
I am concerned for the fate of Gupta’s business empire and the workers in Motherwell and Lochaber.
For years his businesses have juggled unfiled accounts, questionable Scottish Government deals and Serious Fraud Office probes.
Now I have been told that employees at the Motherwell steel plant are at home on 80% wages with no work due to issues with cash flow and input prices.
Every time I ask ministers questions on this, they insist they have had no contact and see no problem so let me spell this out for them: A man who owes you millions of pounds in loans and could cost you tens of millions in clean up costs is being prosecuted for his alleged failure to file accounts. What are you doing to secure the future of these businesses and ensure taxpayers are not left picking up the tab?
Cole-Hamilton raises ADHD waits with First Minister
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament during this afternoon’s session of First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Stephen is a teenager waiting for a diagnosis for ADHD and a range of other complex conditions. His initial consultation with child and adolescent mental health was five years ago.
He’s still waiting for treatment, and the family have no idea when he’ll reach the front of what must now be the longest queue in the National Health Service.
They fear he will face more of the most important years of his life- schooling, relationships, exams- without the care pathway or the medication he needs.
This is a national crisis. Across Scotland, the number of ADHD referrals has skyrocketed. It’s up 1000% in Glasgow among adults. But resources have simply not kept pace with demand.
Today is World Mental Health Day, and we know ADHD can often present alongside other conditions including anxiety and depression.
So can I ask the First Minister, when we get to next year’s World Mental Health Day, will Stephen and others like him still be waiting for care?
Rennie responds to Audit Scotland report
Responding to an Audit Scotland report which states that the Scottish Government is making “short-term savings” which fail to address “the public sector’s unsustainable finances”, Scottish Liberal Democrat Willie Rennie MSP said:
When it comes to the public finances, it often feels like SNP ministers are playing a constant game of Whac-A-Mole. There’s no strategy and no plan.
Ministers have made a series of expensive blunders, from the ferries scandal to selling off the seabed on the cheap. We’re now seeing ballooning costs for the government’s new HR and Finance system.
Scotland deserves a government that knows what it’s doing- that can invest in our public services and grow our economy for generations to come.
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3 Comments
As failures to reach cancer targets and anti-social behaviours are both connected to neoliberalism, financialization and privatisation, with their undermining of prosocial attitudes and behaviours, might the L D. Party speak up assertively against root causes of the above avoidable presenting problems?
@ Steve,
“As failures to reach cancer targets and anti-social behaviours are both connected to neoliberalism, financialization and privatisation….”
Not sure that anti-social behaviour can solely be blamed on neoliberalism etc. There are some pretty nasty people out there who aren’t going to change unless they are made to change. I think most people know this even perhaps also some people in the Lib Dem party 🙂
Lib Dems won’t necessarily disagree with privatisations. This is just as much economic Liberalism as neoliberalism. A more socialist line would be that all sectors of the economy which are effective monopolies should be under public ownership.
Can any significant governmental economic change fail to have social consequences?
Might classifications of anti-social behaviours be affected by perceptions of the beholders?
Here is a triad of anti-social behaviour types:
1) Institutional, which includes water companies which put so much sewage into water courses so frequently, under-staffing of the Inland Revenue, ditto the NHS with consequent dangerously long medical waits and failure to keep public buildings such as schools safe and reasonably effective.
2) Individual and small group anti-social behaviours which include yobbish behaviours, vandalism, fights, knife crime etc.
3) Mixed which includes the recent riots associated with the murder of children at a dance class.
Might all, at least in significant part, be consequent upon reductions in pro-social/sufficient “maintenance” government spending?
Might Neoliberal/Austerity haveresulted in fewer resources to sustain, motivate and give decent living contexts to all but the wealthy?
« Every region of England saw spending cuts for youth services of at least 60%. The prevalence of a likely mental disorder in 17-19 year olds rose from 10.1% in 2017 to 17.7 in 2020.” (Understanding Society)
“By 2018 police officers were down 14.8% on 2010 levels. The prison service lost 26.6 between 2009/2010 and 2014/15”. (Institute of Government)
As there have been “bad actors” in every society since the start of recorded history, might it be reasonable to expect every government to bear this in mind when making socio-economic decisions?
Please note that the writer’s intention is to classify the consequences of Neoliberalism etc. as associated factors.