I spoke in Scottish Labour’s Health debate in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
Too many people have been let down by failings in handling of the pandemic such as rules in care homes & in front-line care delivery settings that are not always followed, shortages in PPE and lack of asymptomatic testing roll-out. Health & social care workers and their families have been let down by a system that failed to protect them. We have had this virus with us now for the best part of a year so we need action now.
It’s vital that the vaccine roll-out is effective and NHS staff need to be listened to.
We all understand the massive pressures that our NHS is facing. And even though it is important for future transmission that we learn lessons about handling of the virus, we should look not just at the short-term crisis.
It is vital that the SNP Government now plans ahead to ensure that staff are supported not only to get to the end of the virus, but to get through the coming months, because people are keeping going, just in hope that we are going to get to the end.
The reality of having to remobilise health services and deal with massive delays and a backlog of operations will, in itself, be stressful – health and social care workers will need support. We need a national care service. We also have to focus on people’s wellbeing and mental health and the community networks that are needed to support people.
Ensuring that prevention is pushed higher up the agenda is crucial, whether it’s ensuring people get the cancer checks they need, such as cervical smear check ups, or proper mental health support.
My full speech available here.