Cure for ailing NHS? A stronger economy. But try telling the SNP that

THIS week we will hear a lot of hot air and spin from the SNP around the Scottish Budget – no change there you say? Well, the SNP need to come up with something to distract from their dreadful record in government. Are we celebrating record growth figures? No. Are we marking record small business creation numbers? No. Have we got a government with a laser-like focus on economic development, jobs and growth? No.

After 11 years of a Scottish economy going nowhere, we need to be looking to the future and how we as a country are going to meet future challenges. One thing I’ve sadly never heard SNP Ministers mention is the fact that, since 2010 and the decision by UK Conservative governments to protect the health budget, Scotland has benefited from £1.46 billion in additional Barnett Formula funding. I welcome that SNP ministers have taken to pass on this extra funding to our NHS, as increasing demands means delivering increased funding. But it’s also about how we spend those resources.

It’s interesting that, since 1999, the Scottish NHS budget has increased from just under £5 billion to more than £13 billion today. Yes, demands have increased as well as costs, but outcomes for patients have not.

Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money given to our NHS goes towards helping fill the gaps left by SNP incompetence and bad decisions. Delayed discharge cost the NHS £132 million in 2015-16, and the SNP spend nearly a quarter of a billion pounds on locums because of their failure to put proper NHS workforce plans in place.

The NHS turns 70 on 5th July and its success in difficult times is down to those who go the extra mile. The NHS doesn’t depend on the SNP – it depends on the amazing people who work in it.

Since Ruth Davidson appointed me Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health I’ve been getting out across Scotland meeting those frontline NHS staff.

They want Scotland’s politicians to focus energy and efforts on the future sustainability of our NHS. That focus will drive Scottish Conservative policy as we demonstrate we are an alternative to the SNP’s mismanagement and incompetence.

If we are ever going to create a healthy and happy nation, then we need to add a P to our NHS – a National Preventative Health Service. Preventative health needs preventative actions and preventative spend. In so many cases, the lack of mental health and well-being support has been at the heart of the problem – from a person diagnosed with cancer to a child needing early support.

I’ll never stop highlighting to SNP Ministers that I have people at my surgeries or writing to me almost every week telling me their children will have to wait a year to get mental health support, with adults having to wait two years. This has to change.

Another important step towards making our NHS work well is to fix the GP crisis. Local GPs are the gatekeeper to the NHS for most Scots. But, increasingly, people can’t get an appointment.

That’s why Scottish Conservatives have said that if we were in Government today in Scotland we would increase the share of NHS funding going directly to general practice. GPs are central to the changes that we all agree are needed. The SNP has consistently cut health spending going directly to GPs over the last decade – despite Nicola Sturgeon telling them unequivocally that 11 per cent of funding would go to general practice. So far, that hasn’t happened.

To provide even more funding for the NHS, we need to increase our tax base by growing our economy. If the SNP acted on this, many hardworking families could avoid the tax hikes it proposes. They clearly need to ask themselves the long term questions on how we grow our economy and build a sustainable NHS.

To provide even more funding, we need to increase our tax base