Revealed: Nicola’s secret talks with boss of Apple over revamping NHS
NICOLA Sturgeon has been accused of ‘touting Scotland’s NHS’ to big business after it emerged she held secret talks with the boss of technology giant Apple about an overhaul of the health service.
The SNP leader met Tim Cook, chief executive of the world’s most valuable private firm, at its sprawling Californian headquarters during her visit to the United States in April.
And the Scottish Daily Mail can reveal that they discussed opportunities for the firm’s expanding healthcare wing to work within the NHS north of the Border.
It included the radical idea of providing an iPhone app to patients to monitor their blood pressure or heart rate. They also discussed Apple technology used to help doctors and patients communicate.
Documents obtained from freedom of information requests show Miss Sturgeon planned to discuss a fundamental overhaul of the way many patients are treated as part of the Scottish Government’s ‘digital health strategy’.
Briefing notes provided to the First Minister urged her to tell Mr Cook that the Scottish Government wants to ‘stimulate innovation’ and ‘welcomes investment’.
Opponents say the revelations show Miss Sturgeon is willing to discuss private involvement in the NHS with one of the world’s biggest companies, despite repeatedly condemning the English health service for using private firms.
Anas Sarwar, health spokesman for Scottish Labour, said: ‘The First Minister marketed her visit to California as an attempt to draw investment to Scottish businesses, not discuss more privatisation in our health service with billion-pound tech companies.
‘We aren’t afraid of technological progress and welcome improvements in healthcare technology, but that should never replace investment in NHS staff.
‘That Nicola Sturgeon is touting our NHS to big business in America while our nurses back home have real terms pay cuts and Scots patients have their waiting times missed shows just how misguided the SNP’s priorities for our NHS are.’
During her US trip, Scottish Government officials confirmed that Miss Sturgeon had met Mr Cook but declined to provide any details of the issues discussed. However, the documents obtained by the Mail show that the entire focus of the meeting was about how Apple’s technological expertise can be used in the NHS.
They met in Cupertino, near San Jose, where Apple – the world’s largest company by market capitalisation – has its 175-acre HQ.
A briefing note written by Scottish Government officials says Apple appears poised to ‘move beyond fitness apps to medical technologies and clinical support systems’.
When he received an honorary doctorate of science from Glasgow University earlier this year, Mr Cook said: ‘The promise of precision medicine is that we will be able to “live longer better”, and we’ve seen from the Apple Watch the potential benefits of constantly monitoring people’s heart rates.
‘So many people have told us they found they had a heart issue and might have died without it.
‘We’re in the very early days… but Scotland is in a great place to get things moving.’
Donald Cameron, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘In public, the SNP never stops criticising the role of private companies in healthcare.’
He added: ‘There’s no problem with the Scottish Government pursuing such options, but it should drop the pretence to voters.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Scotland is a leader in digital healthcare innovation, development and adoption. We will continue to work with a range of partners to strengthen the services available within Scotland’s publiclyowned, publicly-run NHS.’
‘Live longer better’