Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today set out his party’s plans to fix how the NHS trains and retains the doctors, nurses and other staff needed to end long waits for treatment and reinvigorate local health services, and urged voters to use their second, peach-coloured ballot paper to back them at May’s election.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats’ strategy will:

• Launch a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan.
• Create an early warning system by presenting a detailed annual workforce report for debate in the Scottish Parliament, identifying staffing issues and addressing past failings.
• Establish a Health and Social Care Staff Assembly, putting the experience of those who know their services best at the heart of the Scottish Government’s response to the crises they face.

It comes after the Scottish Liberal Democrats last month revealed that NHS workers have logged concerns about short staffing on more than 30,000 occasions since 2018. There were also warnings from nurses that short staffing is causing many to consider leaving.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

Our NHS has so much going for it, but right now, it feels like it simply isn’t working.

The equivalent of 1 in 6 Scots are waiting for treatment, many unable to work. Getting an appointment with a GP can take weeks and you’re lucky if you can see an NHS dentist. People are no longer confident that when they ring 999 an ambulance will turn up in time.

Our NHS has been plagued by the SNP Government’s botched workforce planning. Staff want to deliver top quality care, but the red flags they are formally raising 99 times a week point to patients waiting in pain and services pushed to breaking point.

Getting you the care you need, when you need it, starts with training and retaining doctors, nurses and all the other staff that make our NHS tick. It’s why we will launch a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan to get on top of what our health service needs. We will trust frontline NHS staff to help with this, including through a new NHS and Social Care Staff Assembly that capitalises on their expertise.

In many constituencies we are on the verge of winning against the SNP, but wherever you are every vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats on the second peach ballot will deliver change with fairness at its heart.

We have a realistic plan to get things done and deliver first-rate healthcare, so you can see your GP, dentist or mental health professional when you need them. Scotland’s NHS deserves better, and with the Scottish Liberal Democrats you can vote for it.