For the duration of the SNP’s time in change as the devolved government of Scotland, there has been a marked failure in many key areas of public service delivery.
Perhaps most notably are the major problems our NHS is experiencing and the difficulties facing the health service is having a hugely significant impact on the lives of many people living in my Eastwood constituency and throughout Scotland.
Health casework is at the top of my in tray and it is incredibly difficult to read of the challenges constituents are coming across when trying to gain access to medical appointments and healthcare treatment.
We have an outstanding NHS workforce with hugely committed and heroic individuals who were incredible for the duration of the Covid pandemic and continue to be so in the aftermath of this unprecedented public health emergency in modern times.
However, frontline staff are being failed by the SNP Government.
Whilst Covid has clearly added to the pressures facing the health service, the NHS was struggling before the pandemic and over the long-term, the SNP’s stewardship of the healthcare system has simply not been up to the mark.
The consequence is that our most cherished public service in the form of the NHS remains at breaking point.
Workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries has been poor and patients are continuing to suffer badly from the Scottish Government’s mismanagement of our NHS.
Local people in Eastwood and in all corners of Scotland are facing appalling treatment delays with waiting times for operations such as hip replacements spiralling out of control.
This is reflected in my constituency casework with elderly residents contacting me to express concern at the length of time it is taking before much needed hip operations can be arranged and when suffering from excruciating pain.
Recent data that was obtained through a Freedom of Information request has found that in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – the health board area for Eastwood – the average wait for hip surgery has more than doubled from 162.9 days in 2019 to 386 days in 2023.
This data will be hugely concerning for patients who require surgery to relieve the constant pain they are experiencing.
In Scotland, hundreds of thousands of people are languishing on NHS waiting lists and Scottish Conservatives are clear that the SNP must get a grip on these delays.
Today in parliament, I am honoured to be leading a members business debate on the 60-year anniversary of Calderwood Lodge – the only Jewish school in Scotland.
In August 2017, Calderwood Lodge officially moved from it’s previous site in Newlands to a new location in Newton Mearns and to become one half of the first Jewish-Catholic joint campus to be established anywhere in the world alongside St Clare’s Primary.
I was delighted to attend the recent 60-year celebration event at the school and with the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis in attendance.
Calderwood Lodge is an asset to East Renfrewshire and Scottish Education and it is important that this milestone event is properly recognised at the Scottish Parliament.