FMQs Roundup Thursday January 30 2025 #NHS

The Scotsman

Dale and Alistair discuss the goings on at Thursday's First Minister's Questions

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Politics Show for this Thursday. We're here to unwrap

00:06and unpick First Minister's questions for another week. Always eventful, Russell Findlay

00:13with the first question. Alistair, what was the target on John Swinney's back today?

00:20There's a huge focus on health today from both the Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay

00:24and the Scottish Labour leader Anna Sarwar. People watching this probably know that John

00:28Swinney on Monday unveiled the latest Scottish Government plan to address the problems in

00:34the NHS, to renew and strengthen the NHS. There's a lot of different aspects to this.

00:39Some of it was about improving capacity, some of it was about putting more money into GP

00:43services. Very much an acceptance that there are existing waiting times problems that have

00:50been there for a long time in the NHS and the Scottish Government is trying to address

00:54some of these. With a background, it should be said, of increasing fatigue, I think,

00:59within NHS staff. And you saw that from some of the reaction after John Swinney's speech

01:04about this on Monday with some of the kind of major trade unions, Unison, which I think

01:10represents hundreds of thousands of staff within the NHS, basically saying this was

01:14the same old, same old. We've heard a lot of this before. A lot of focus as well on

01:18an announcement by John Swinney around this creation of an app, what he called a kind

01:23of digital front door to the NHS. But lots of people pointing out that talk of an NHS

01:29app that people could have on their phones, and it would be this so-called digital front

01:32door, has been around for a while. I think more than two years we've been talking about

01:37this. So there's lots of questions about why it's taken so long to do anything about this,

01:42and people pointing out as well that the NHS in England already has an existing app. But

01:48today, very much a focus on this. As I say, both Russell Finlay and Anna Sarwar going

01:52in on First Minister's questions, John Swinney very much defending the records of the government,

01:57defending the plans that they've announced, pointing to some of the measures they're putting

02:00in place. Anna Sarwar sort of saying that this is all kind of rhetoric, you know, we've

02:06not had enough action here. So I think it's a difficult issue for the Scottish Government.

02:13Health comes up a lot in First Minister's questions, particularly from the Scottish

02:16Labour Party, and I think one of the key reasons for that is that they think if we go into

02:20that election next year, the 2026 Horrid Election, and it's about the stewardship

02:25of public services in Scotland, if they can make it about things like the health service,

02:29then the SNP are in an extremely tricky situation. We saw from, for example, the Scottish Social

02:35Attitude Survey last year, that public confidence in the NHS has plummeted in recent years.

02:40People are really not happy with the state of public services. And John Swinney is very

02:44conscious of that as well. I mean, Monday was partly about this. And it was interesting

02:48that John Swinney himself did the main speech and not his health secretary, Neil Gray.

02:53He's very much come in, he's trying to take control of this situation. He's trying to

02:57show the Scottish public that the Scottish Government knows that there's problems within

03:01the NHS. They're doing something about it. And I think the key question will be whether

03:05any of this makes any difference, whether people on the street actually see a difference

03:11within the health service, because everyone accepts that we need to see change.

03:16Alistair, you wrote earlier in the week as well about another part of that plan, which

03:20was identifying staff to be at the entry to A&E, to divert elderly patients that maybe

03:27weren't best treated there, to try and help waiting lists and delays, etc. It was also

03:32an accusation that that was just a reheated policy. Whether it's reheated or not, it clearly

03:38comes down to delivery or not getting those waiting times down.

03:44It's all about delivery. And I mean, the harsh truth is that there isn't really a gimmick

03:48you can come up with that's going to solve the problems within the NHS. They are deep-rooted

03:52problems with the entire health system. A lot of it's to do with changes in demographics,

03:57you know, population issues, some of it's to do with funding, some of it's just to do

04:02with what we expect the NHS to do. There's an argument that maybe we expect it to do

04:06too much, but there are deep-rooted issues here. And I think there's a lot of frustration,

04:11as I say, among NHS staff themselves about being treated as kind of political pawns.

04:16And they see that, you know, new plans are announced, but the difference to them on the

04:20ground is sometimes, maybe some of them would argue, quite minimal. And I think it's probably

04:24worth touching on as well. We saw, I think it was last week, perhaps the week before,

04:29that report that came out from the Royal College of Nursing about the corridor care crisis

04:34in the NHS. This is where patients are literally treated sometimes within corridor environments

04:40because there just isn't enough space in hospitals to treat people. And some of the testimony

04:45that came out of that was, you know, completely eye-opening. It was really, really shocking

04:50some of the stories that nurses were telling in that report. So it's just such a deep-rooted

04:55issue and there's not a silver bullet. I mean, that's something that politicians are very

04:59fond of saying, but it's very true in this case. There isn't a silver bullet, but there

05:03are things they can do. And I think it's going to be, as I say, one of the key defining issues

05:09of the coming months for the SNP government, if they can show that they are making a difference

05:14on the ground. I think they already have a target in place, actually, it's been spoken

05:18about, about waiting times, people not waiting any longer than 12 months by the end of this

05:24year or the beginning of next year. I think they will be held to account in this.

05:28Alistair, just one final quick question before we wrap up. It was a big story this morning,

05:33an announcement of a court decision that effectively the assessments around

05:41Rosebank and Jackdaw, the North Sea fields, had been scrapped. Effectively, the two companies

05:48involved were allowed to continue with scoping work, but they will have to reapply for approval

05:53for drilling on those sites. It was applauded by environmental groups as an historic win

05:58and a turning point, but the companies involved as well said that they were pleased that they

06:02would still be able to continue some work while they reapply for assessment. Did that come up

06:08at all at FMQs? Clearly, the future of the North Sea is an important issue.

06:15It certainly came up after FMQs. Myself, along with other journalists, we doorstepped John

06:20Sweaty, the First Minister, about this. Obviously, the Scottish government's position on oil and gas

06:25has sort of shifted in recent years. Nicola Sturgeon is very against new oil and gas

06:29developments. The position has become a little bit more vague since then. John Sweaty is saying

06:34that they'll have to reflect on this court judgment, but it's always been the Scottish

06:38government's position that you have to take these climate compatibility tests seriously,

06:42that the climate issue has to be taken seriously. I think there's huge questions here. I think,

06:48to be honest, the person who this will be most difficult for is Keir Starmer, because he's the

06:52one who's going to ultimately have to make a decision here, potentially, if a new application

06:59is made to drill in these oil fields, gas fields. He's the one that's a UK government

07:04decision. It's not a devolved issue. So, very difficult for him, given the UK Labour government

07:10has been extremely cool on new drilling in the North Sea. But, ultimately, it's going to be him

07:15that this is going to come down to. So, I think, yeah, what he does next will be very interesting.

07:22Alistair, thanks for bringing us and all the viewers at home up to speed on what's been

07:28happening there at the Scottish Parliament today. You can read all the latest political

07:32news, including the details from that court decision at Scotsman.com throughout the rest

07:37of today. And please pick up a copy of the Scotsman tomorrow for your full wrap of political events.

07:42Thanks to you, Alistair, and thanks everyone for joining us.

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