• Long-term sickness risks £18 billion black hole under Conservatives as Lib Dems call for mental health MOTs
• Debate: The country deserved better than that
• Cole-Hamilton: SNP’s mishandling of health costing the economy
• Welsh Lib Dems react to school year announcement
• Cole-Hamilton: SNP have failed to get to grips with A&E crisis
• Mental health treatment targets missed again
• Scottish Liberal Democrats: SNP must go further and faster with rail travel

Long-term sickness risks £18 billion black hole under Conservatives as Lib Dems call for mental health MOTs

• The Liberal Democrats announce regular mental health ‘MOT’ checks at key points in people’s lives including for new parents and retirees

• Ed Davey said the Prime Minister’s “failure to cut NHS waiting lists is damaging the economy” and party’s new commitment would “help people get back to work”

• Analysis reveals that over the course of the next Parliament long-term sickness could cost the economy £18.3 billion

Record levels of long-term sickness under the Conservatives are set to blow an £18.3 billion black hole in the public finances over the next Parliament, new analysis by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The party said it shows that Rishi Sunak’s failure to bring down NHS waiting lists is holding the economy back and costing taxpayers billions.

Each person out of work due to long-term illness costs an average of £5,200 in lost tax revenue, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility. The latest figures show a shocking 2.8 million people were out of work due to ill health in February 2024, up around 700,000 compared to the start of this Parliament in 2019. It means the rise in long-term sickness under the Conservative Party is leading to a staggering loss of almost £3.7 billion in lost tax revenue per year, or £18.3 billion over the next parliament.

Rishi Sunak recently admitted the government has failed to cut NHS waiting lists with 6.3 million people still waiting for treatment, double the number since 2015. Over 1.35 million (53%) of those inactive because of long-term sickness reported that they had a mental health condition such as depression, bad nerves or anxiety.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the introduction of regular mental health check-ups at key points in people’s lives when they are most vulnerable, to help tackle the root causes of the mental health crisis. This would include new parents, children and young people, men in their 40s, carers and retirees, all of whom are at high risk of mental ill health.

To improve mental health care the Liberal Democrats would boost funding for NHS talking therapies, making them available to an additional 100,000 people over the next Parliament. The plan would see an additional £70m a year invested in Talking Therapies by 2028-29, funded through a clampdown on tax evasion.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Rishi Sunak’s failure to cut NHS waiting lists is damaging the economy and blowing a hole in the public finances. Years of Conservative chaos have left us with a sick economy and a health service on its knees.

Millions of people are struggling to see a GP, waiting months in pain for hospital treatment or struggling to access mental health support, leading to record numbers on long-term sick leave.

The country cannot afford another five years of Conservative failure on the NHS. The Liberal Democrats would fix the NHS crisis to get the economy firing on all cylinders again, including through regular mental health checks to help support people at vulnerable points in their lives.

Debate: The country deserved better than that

Responding to tonight’s ITV debate, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper said:

The country deserved better than that.

At least today people got to hear a groundbreaking plan from the Liberal Democrats to offer free personal care for all and finally reform social care. That is what the public deserves – a plan to end the cost of living crisis and save our NHS.

Cole-Hamilton: SNP’s mishandling of health costing the economy

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has put health at the centre of his party’s plans to grow the economy during a visit to an Edinburgh hairdresser today.

As he popped into Campbell Young Hair Design in West Edinburgh for a campaign haircut, Mr Cole-Hamilton emphasised how the equivalent of 1 in 7 Scots being stuck on a waiting list is having an impact on the economy.

Hundreds of thousands of people are locked out of work by physical and mental ill health.

The SNP have abandoned long Covid sufferers despite one recent study showing the condition may have reduced Scotland’s GDP by £120m and cost 11,000 jobs.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

We’ve just lived through a global pandemic, so the link between good health and a growing and prosperous economy should be obvious to us all.

If people can’t get help fast then they can’t get back to work and get on in life.

It’s why we need to bring down waits, retain NHS staff and tackle burnout, and establish specialist clinics and in-home support for long Covid sufferers.

This is the sort of investment that pays for itself because we all benefit from their talents. But the SNP and Conservative governments have driven health and economic policy straight into a brick wall. They are both out of road and out of ideas.

Electing a Scottish Liberal Democrat MP means having someone who will always fight for good local health services and who will work their heart out to get you seen fast.

Welsh Lib Dems react to school year announcement

Today, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have welcomed the news that there will be no immediate changes to school calendars in Wales.

Plans to cut the school summer holiday from six to five weeks have been shelved by the Welsh Government following strong opposition from teaching unions.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

I am pleased to hear that the Welsh Government has listened to the serious concerns raised over these proposals.

Changes of such a seismic scale risked adding further pressure onto the shoulders of teachers and schools that are already being weighed down by the long-lasting impact of Covid on education.

Any future reforms must be seriously scrutinised, and stress tested so that we know our children are receiving the very best education possible.

Cole-Hamilton: SNP have failed to get to grips with A&E crisis

Responding to new figures showing that just 67.4% of people attending A&E were seen within the 4-hour target in April, with 11.7% waiting more than 8 hours and 5.2% patients waiting more than 12 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Normally as we enter the summer months of the year, A&E waiting times decrease, but there has been absolutely no progress on waiting times since last month.

The SNP government have completely failed to get to grips with the crisis in our A&E departments.

Patients and staff deserve better. We need to see meaningful action taken to reverse the situation.

Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the NHS Recovery Plan, bring forward an urgent inquiry into the hundreds of avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis and meaningfully tackle burnout among staff.

Mental health treatment targets missed again

Scottish Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton has today called on there to be action to resolve the “ever deepening crisis in mental health treatment” after new figures revealed that the referral to treatment target for child and adolescent mental health as well psychological services were missed yet again.

New figures from Public Health Scotland show that for the quarter ending March 2024:

• 86% of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of referral. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS.
• 79.3% of adults waiting to start treatment with psychological therapies were seen within 18 weeks of referral. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of people should start treatment with psychological therapies within 18 weeks.
• 5,557 children and young people and with 24,012 adults were waiting for treatment for CAMHS and Psychological Therapies respectively at the quarter ending March 2024.

Mental health funding was frozen for the third year in a row in the Scottish budget last December. When combined with in-year funding cuts and inflation, this adds up to more than £80m of real-term cuts to the vital mental health budget.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

The SNP are presiding over an ever-deepening crisis in mental health treatment in Scotland. The SNP have unleashed tens of millions of cuts on mental health, only adding to the agony of everyone struggling to be seen.

My party has spent years pressing the government about the importance of putting mental health practitioners into surgeries in every corner of Scotland, cutting waiting lists and improving access to mental health support. These figures show why we need action now more than ever.

Scotland needs world-class mental health services. Scottish Liberal Democrats will deliver them. That’s why we’ve set out plans to increase the tax paid by the social media giants – a move that could help fund more mental health support in schools and get more professionals close to where you live.

Scottish Liberal Democrats: SNP must go further and faster with rail travel

Responding to analysis by Transport Scotland that there is no currently “no strong evidence” that the Scottish Government pilot scrapping peak rail fares has been effective, Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Daniel O’Malley said:

If we want people to switch to greener travel, the SNP need to go much further and faster.

Ministers have hiked rail fares by 8.7%. Despite ScotRail being in public hands for two years, we are as far as ever from the long-term ticketing solutions needed to encourage people to rely on rail travel.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a public transport system that works for all communities, for all ages and for the climate. That’s why we would cut fares, bring in new options for two/three-day a week season tickets and work with councils to explore new lines, especially in areas that suffer from inadequate public transport links.