Evelyn Tweed MSP has welcomed the release of the NHS Recovery Plan from the Scottish Government, as one of Scotland’s most valued public institutions seeks to reform and rebuild from the heights of the pandemic.
The plan commits more than £1 billion in targeted investment for the recovery and renewal of Scotland’s health service, setting out key actions for the next 5 years to help address backlogs and increase capacity by 10%.
A priority within the Plan is to focus on the health and wellbeing of NHS staff who have given so much, particularly during the pandemic.
Actions include:
- increasing investment in National Treatment Centres (NTCs) to more than £400 million, contributing to delivery of over 40,000 additional elective surgeries and procedures per year
- raising primary care investment by 25%, supporting GPs, community pharmacists, dentists and optometrists
- investing £29 million to target diagnostic backlogs, providing 78,000 additional procedures in 2021/22 rising to 90,000 per year from 2025/26
- providing £8 million to support the mental health and wellbeing of the health and care workforce
- investing £11 million in new national and international recruitment campaigns to produce an additional 1,500 staff over the next five years for our NTCs, 1,000 mental health link workers in communities, 800 more GPs, and boosting paramedic numbers through the £10,000 Paramedic Bursary.
- delivering £23 million to redesign urgent care – with rapid access to a senior clinician via a telephone or video consultation where possible, reducing the pressure on A&E
- devoting £130 million to deliver our National Cancer Plan and Detect Cancer Early Programme
- ensuring at least 10% of frontline health spending will be dedicated to mental health, and recruiting 320 additional Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) workers
Evelyn Tweed MSP said:
‘NHS Forth Valley, and Scotland’s NHS more broadly, has performed extremely well under the pressure of the pandemic, thanks to the hard work and dedication of frontline health and social care workers.
‘This Plan will drive forward the recovery of our NHS, beyond pre-pandemic levels. Increasing capacity, careful reform and tackling the backlog are all addressed under these proposals. We all want to see an NHS that is innovative, sustainable and stronger than ever.’
Notes:
The plan can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/nhs-recovery-plan/
