Highland doctor's dire New Year warning on the state of the NHS in Scotland
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THE Highland GP who leads the BMA doctors' union in Scotland has issued a New Year message to members that paints vividly just how serious a crisis the NHS is facing.
And his message is supported by a long list of first hand accounts from medics outlining just how serious working conditions are day in, day out.
Dr Kennedy (53) of Riverside Highland Medical Centre and who is chairman of the BMA in Scotland said: "I desperately want to be optimistic and forward looking... to set out some hope for the future for the medical profession that I am so proud to be part of and the Scottish health service I am equally proud to work in.
"But it’s not easy to find that indication of a brighter future.
"No-one working in the health service in Scotland would give me any credibility if my message was an upbeat description of the way our NHS will or can get better and how the working conditions of those caring for the people of Scotland will miraculously improve."
He continued: "The problems are just too long standing, so deeply entrenched that there is no magic bullet. At BMA Scotland we have warned of this direction of travel for some years.
"Yes, it’s been made worse and more urgent by the pandemic, but let’s not kid ourselves that Covid is the cause of the crises we face.
"All the statistics on the NHS tell us this desperate state of affairs is the case, and things are as bad as or worse than they have ever been. Winter is a now a meaningless term in our NHS. It used to be the busy time we struggled through – and emerged from grateful to be heading into calmer waters – but now ‘winter pressures’ are just what we experience every single day."
He said they need need to look beyond the statistics to how this is impacting the care being delivered by doctors and what it means for their patients.
Dr Kennedy said: "We asked for that first-hand experience from you, our members – and we have heard some hugely worrying testimony.
"If the raft of regular and incredibly concerning health service statistics isn’t enough to prompt clear action – then I believe these kind of personal experiences must surely be. They speak louder than anything I could say to list the many, various and hugely serious problems we face."
Dr Kennedy is calling for a "national conversation" on the crisis and on January 11 he is to meet Humza Yousaf the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to discuss this.
Dr Kennedy has told the Scottish Government it must find the cash to "save the country's NHS."
He said: "We don't believe there is absolutely no more money."
He warned junior doctors could soon follow their counterparts in England by balloting for industrial action as the value of their take home pay had dropped by 23 per cent since 2008.
Dr Kennedy said it is vital that the Scottish Government worked to resolve key concerns on pay, pensions, workforce planning and working conditions to ensure staff could be retained.
The health service is going through one of the worst crises in its history as patients face huge waiting times for certain services and staff endure rising workloads.
The Scottish government is already facing the prospect of unprecedented strike action across the NHS after three unions representing nurses last month rejected the government's latest pay offer.
Dr Kennedy said it always "leaves healthcare workers cold" when governments say there is no more money.
"We all know that when governments choose to find money, they can find it," he said.
"I believe that if there was a will to find the money, it could be found. We don't believe there is absolutely no more money.
"And what is more important to the people of Scotland than our NHS? It should be prioritised.
"I believe the majority of the public would support the government in addressing pay and pensions in the NHS."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have already undertaken an Emergency Budget review in recent months to explore every option to deliver fair pay uplifts for NHS and other public sector staff this year. This has included having to find over £400 million of savings in health spending to go directly toward NHS staff pay.
"No other government in the four nations has matched this endeavour. As a result our record high NHS Agenda for Change pay uplift for 2022/23 has been accepted by a majority of the health unions in the recent negotiations, representing a majority of the unionised NHS staff."
