GOVERNMENT
NEW GOVERNMENT – NEW NHS?
By John Macgill
THE ELECTION OF AN SNP GOVERNMENT REPRESENTS THE STARTING GUN FOR WHAT COULD TURN OUT TO BE THE BIGGEST CHANGE IN THE STRUCTURE OF SCOTLAND’S NHS SINCE THE 1972 NHS SCOTLAND ACT ESTABLISHED FIFTEEN NEW HEALTH BOARDS AND THE COMMON SERVICES AGENCY TO PROVIDE CENTRAL SUPPORT FOR THEM1
. W
hile First Minister Nicola Sturgeon may not have an overall majority, she
has made it clear that she believes that she has achieved a ‘very clear and unequivocal mandate’ from the electorate to deliver the policies set out in the SNP manifesto.
What the SNP proved when they last operated as a minority government, from 2007 to 2011, was that the Scottish Government didn’t need new legislation and votes in parliament to make changes to the way that public services were delivered. It is also worth reminding ourselves that the SNP then was the largest party by just one seat. This time around, the next biggest party (the Conservatives) are 32 seats behind. Indeed, the votes of Tory and Labour MSPs added together still fall short of those of the SNP on its own.
So, while we can expect a more open consensus-based approach, and
16 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
some deals with the Greens or Liberal Democrats to get some important legislation (such as the annual budget) passed, Ms Sturgeon will stick to her guns and deliver the promises she made during the run-up to the election.
THE GOVERNMENT’S AGENDA What the SNP manifesto2
signalled
was the intention to undertake the sort of review of Scotland’s NHS that so many of its ministers have been wanting to do since fi rst coming to power.
The SNP manifesto states:
‘Thirty-one new local integration bodies have been created to deliver adult health and social care. Scotland also has 22 health boards – 14 territorial and 8 special boards. In implementing the National Clinical Strategy, we will make sure the existing boundaries
between health and integration bodies do not act as barriers to planning local services effectively.
‘The number, structure and regulation of health boards – and their relationships with local councils – will be reviewed, with a view to reducing unnecessary backroom duplication and removing structural impediments to better care.
‘We will develop how budgets are allocated, focussing on areas of clinical activity as well as geography and we will continue to shift the balance of care by increasing, in every year of the next parliament, the share of the NHS budget dedicated to mental health and to primary, community, and social care.’
The SNP’s promises include a focus on outcomes-based health policy funded by an extra £500 million
above infl ation over the term of the parliament.
Another big-ticket promise is to: ‘…reform the NHS to meet the challenge of an ageing population by investing an additional £1.3 billion in our health and social care partnerships, reforming primary care and increasing the numbers of GPs and nurses working in our communities.’
In primary care, the SNP has committed itself to shifting the balance of care – and NHS funding – to community settings, and increasing the number of GP surgeries offering a broad Community Health Service:
‘Our reforms will bring together a range of professionals in GP surgeries, including practice nurses, district nurses, mental health professionals, pharmacists, and allied health professionals. All GP practices will have access to an enhanced pharmacist, allowing GPs to focus more on the patients who require their assessment.’
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