• Corridor care: Govt has to treat this as a national emergency
• Davey calls on PM to rule out use of UK bases to attack Greenland
• Met vetting scandal: Lib Dems call on Conservatives to apologise for putting targets over public safety
• Business rates change “last chance” for “treasured” pubs
• Cole-Hamilton: £440m delayed discharge cost “utterly astonishing”
• Woman in Far North stuck in hospital for over 400 days waiting for care

Corridor care: Govt has to treat this as a national emergency

Responding to reports that corridor care has become so normalised hospitals are fitting plugs in hallways, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said:

Corridor care is a disgraceful symptom of years of neglect in our NHS. It is completely scandalous that treatment on crammed corridors is now normalised with thousands of patients left on trolleys for hours or even days on end.

Enough. This horrific practice must end. The Government has to treat this as a national emergency. That is why the Liberal Democrats are calling for an Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, which includes a rapid expansion of hospital beds and fixes our broken GP and social care services, to finally bring an end to this shameful chapter.

Davey calls on PM to rule out use of UK bases to attack Greenland

Ed Davey has today called on Keir Starmer to categorically rule out the US using British military bases to support a US attack on Greenland, just hours after UK airfields supported the American operation to seize a shadow fleet vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Liberal Democrat leader has demanded today UK soil must “never” host aggressors against a NATO ally, including Greenland.

The Government has so far failed to rule out that such an operation could be launched from British bases.

Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat Leader, said:

The UK must never play midwife to American aggression directed against our NATO allies.

I’m deeply concerned that our Prime Minister is yet to rule out the use of British bases to propel American troops onto the ground in Greenland – to take the territory by force.

Starmer must spell out to Trump and his lawless cabinet that the UK will never support such a dangerous act, and will abide by NATO and international law – even if they won’t.

Met vetting scandal: Lib Dems call on Conservatives to apologise for putting targets over public safety

Commenting on recent revelations that the Metropolitan Police wrongly hired over 100 police officers after relaxing vetting standards, Lib Dem London Spokesperson Luke Taylor MP said:

This is a staggering dereliction of duty that further undermines trust in our police and has even potentially put members of the public at risk.

It is a betrayal to victims who have already suffered at the hands of some of these officers and a kick in the teeth for the vast majority of hard-working officers whose reputations are being dragged through the mud by these systemic failures.

Let’s not forget that the previous Conservative Government failed the public by putting targets for the number of officers over public safety and should apologise.

We cannot continue with business as usual. The Met must urgently review the position of every officer recruited without proper checks and expel any officer that doesn’t meet standards.

Business rates change “last chance” for “treasured” pubs

Responding to reporting that the Government will reduce planned rises to business rates, Daisy Cooper MP, Treasury Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and Pub Parliamentarian of the Year 2024, said:

This is literally the last chance saloon for our treasured pubs and high streets – so the government must u-turn, today.

These businesses are worried sick, making decisions now, and can’t wait a minute longer.

Ministers must give them the clarity they so desperately need so businesses don’t go to the wall, hollowing our communities, in the coming days.

Cole-Hamilton: £440m delayed discharge cost “utterly astonishing”

Responding to public spending watchdog reporting that delayed discharges cost the NHS alone at least £440 million a year, with the full cost to the health and social care system likely to be much higher, only the SNP Government no longer calculate it, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

It is utterly astonishing that our NHS is losing £1.2 million a day to delayed discharge under the SNP. These are people who should be cared for in the community at a quarter of the cost.

The SNP’s abject failure to provide proper care at home or in the community is leaving 2,000 patients stuck in hospital on a typical night. It’s why A&E departments are struggling to move people into hospital and why ambulances are stacking up outside.

By backing Scottish Liberal Democrats on your second, peach ballot paper in May, you can vote for a realistic plan to fix social care, so that we can fix the NHS.

As the party of social care, we would create a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers, £2 higher than the national minimum wage, to tackle the chronic staff shortages and make caring a profession of choice.

Woman in Far North stuck in hospital for over 400 days waiting for care

At today’s session of First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP raised the case of a woman from the Far North who has been stuck in hospital for over 400 days because a shortage of carers means she cannot return home.

Margaret MacGill’s case was first raised with Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Jamie Stone, who has written to the Chief Executive of NHS Highland, urging the health board to provide the care she needs to return home.

It comes as a report published today shows that delays in people leaving hospital are costing the NHS in Scotland at least £440 million a year, with the full cost to the health and social care system likely to be much higher.

Alex Cole-Hamilton warned the First Minister that you cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care.

Speaking in the chamber, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

In November 2024, 62-year-old Margaret MacGill was rushed to hospital. She’d become paralysed from the waist down with a rare spinal condition known as Cauda Equina.

They think it was caused by lifting both her disabled son and the patients in her care as an auxiliary nurse and then as a social care worker herself.

Margaret has been in hospital, first in Raigmore, now in Wick, for over 400 days.

The family home was adapted and ready for her last April. The ramps were installed. Doors widened. A whole extension’s been built.

What’s missing are the carers. The staff she needs to drop by to help her. So, Margaret is still in hospital.

Her husband Cathol told me this morning that she is a positive and vibrant woman, but she is struggling. She just wants to get out of hospital.

So can the First Minister tell me what is it going to take to get Margaret home?

He went onto say:

The brutal irony of this story is that Margaret herself was a care worker. Throughout her career, she has offered support that is now unavailable to her.

She should have been home within 14 weeks, but she’s been in hospital for 14 months.

It’s happening the length and breadth of the country. Scotland deserves better than this.

That’s why my party has made care a priority in our discussions over the Scottish Budget.

It’s now been ten years since Shona Robison as Health Secretary promised to get rid of delayed discharge altogether.

Yet two thousand people are marooned in hospital every single day.

It’s a care bottleneck that means cancelled surgeries, endless waits in A&E and ambulances stacking up outside hospitals.

This morning, we learned that it’s costing the NHS at least £1.2 million a day. But the cost to Margaret and people like her is incalculable.

When will the penny finally drop for the SNP? That you cannot fix the crisis in our NHS until you fix the crisis in care.

Jamie Stone, Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross said:

When Cathol and Margaret first raised their case with me several months ago, they were at their wit’s end.

Margaret has been in hospital for over 400 days, and it’s having a serious impact on the lives of both her and her husband. It’s why I’ve been making representations to the health board, writing to the Chief Executive of NHS Highland to explain what Margaret and Cathol have had to go through.

Margaret just wants to get home, but she is still in hospital. It feels like we are banging our heads against a brick wall.

This is an issue that has been repeatedly raised with myself and my team. We are currently supporting 10 families who have had long-term waits in hospital or have been completely unable to get home care.

John Swinney now needs to do the right thing, urgently look into Margaret’s case and make sure she gets the care she needs to return home.