Flagship plans to establish a National Care Service for Scotland should be “withdrawn with immediate effect”, former health secretary Alex Neil has said, as he insisted action is needed now to tackle the “crisis” in the NHS.
The former SNP MSP declared action was needed to tackle staff shortages in the health service, as he urged current ministers to consider measures such as giving grants to medical students who commit to working in the NHS and providing free accommodation for junior doctors and nurses.
He also insisted the structure of the health service needs to be “streamlined”, suggesting Scotland should have “about three or four strategic regional healthcare authorities”.
To help tackle problems in social care, Mr Neil, who served as health secretary under Alex Salmond from 2012 to 2014, called for money earmarked for freezing council tax to instead go towards “tackling the crisis in social care”.
He also suggested the £200 million set aside for active travel should be given to social care, saying this was a “much higher policy priority by any measurement”.
The former health secretary made the demands in an article for think tank Reform Scotland, in which he insisted that if the current Government “is serious about addressing the crisis in the NHS in Scotland, it needs to do much more than it is currently doing and it needs to do so now”.
Complaining that “chronic under-funding” had impacted the NHS, Mr Neil said: “We do not have enough doctors, nurses, and other medics.
“We do not have enough of the modern equipment needed to help with accurate and speedy diagnosis.
“We do not have enough beds in our hospitals and care homes.”
But he declared the “most urgent issue is to deal with the dire shortages of medical staff”, with Mr Neil adding solving this problem should keep current Health Secretary Michael Matheson “up at night”.
He branded the Scottish Government’s current target of growing the NHS workforce by 1% over five years – which was set in March 2020 as “totally inadequate” and needing to be “urgently revised”.
To improve staffing he recommended NHS pay be restored to pre 2010 levels, saying this would make the service “internationally competitive”.
Mr Neil said this was needed as “increasing numbers of young medics from Scotland and the rest of the UK are flocking to countries like Australia who are offering much higher pay”.
To fill vacancies in the health service, he added that doctors, nurses and other health professionals who have previously worked for the NHS should be encouraged to return.
Mr Neil said about 2,000 doctors had taken early retirement from the NHS in Scotland, saying that “if we can persuade even a quarter of these people to return to work for the NHS, even on a part-time basis, it could significantly improve performance”.
He urged the Scottish Government to “significantly raise the cap” on the number of students from Scotland who are admitted to medical school, but also said action was needed to encourage them to work for the NHS In Scotland after graduating.
Mr Neil suggested consideration be given to offering maintenance grants to medical students “in return for signing up to a commitment to work in the Scottish NHS for a given period”.
*National Care Service should be withdrawn*Reduce number of health boards*NHS workforce target is “wholly inadequate”*NHS pay rates need to be “internationally competitive”
Read former health secretary @AlexNeilSNP 's contribution to #NHS2048https://t.co/z0vxuCZ0XC
— reformscotland (@reformscotland) January 29, 2024
The former health secretary added: “Increasing the availability of free accommodation for junior nurses and doctors should also be considered to help recruit and retain staff.”
Mr Neil also said the social care sector needed “urgent action to solve the severe staffing shortages”.
But with regard to social care he insisted: “The last thing we need, however, is another costly and unnecessary national bureaucracy through the creation of a new National Care Service.
“This proposal should not just be deferred. It should be withdrawn with immediate effect.”
He continued: “Frankly, the recent Scottish Government budget should have earmarked the £150 million it used for a council tax freeze to invest in tackling the crisis in social care instead.”
Adding that many of the problems in the NHS were “longstanding”, he said it had been “clear” when he was health secretary that “wide-ranging reform of the NHS was needed to meet the challenges facing it”.
And, while he said he had drawn up an action plan, he said he was moved to another position in the Scottish cabinet before this could be implemented.
Mr Neil stated: “I would have much preferred to serve long enough as health secretary to make the changes which were needed then and are much more urgent now.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our NHS Recovery plan outlines our strategy to re-mobilise our health service and ensure patients are receiving the best possible care.
“We have increased investment in frontline NHS boards by more than half a billion pounds in the draft budget, a real terms increase of almost 3%, and avoided any pay-related industrial action by supporting pay deals that reflect NHS workers’ vital role.
“We are working with NHS boards to reduce long waits and opened two new National Treatment Centres in Fife and Highland in 2023 to provide additional capacity across Scotland.
“NHS staffing is also at a historical high level and we are increasing staffing in key areas including GP services, mental health and advanced nurse practitioners.
“We know the social care system in Scotland needs to change and have been working with hundreds of people with experience of accessing or delivering social care to shape a National Care Service (NCS) that will deliver quality and consistency across Scotland.
“We have increased pay and believe the NCS will help provide further improved pay and conditions, as well as access to training and development, ensuring careers in social care are attractive and rewarding.”