Take The NHS Out Of Politics

The care of the NHS should be placed in the hands of medical experts, that's the call from Labour leader Johann Lamont.

She'll deliver a speech in Edinburgh today where she'll say that the health service needs to be protected but is at risk from rising costs and demographic change.

Johann Lamont will invite the Scottish Parliament to task an expert group with cross-party support to lead a public consultation into the NHS and recommend ways to fix our health service.
 
The expert group, to be agreed by all parties, will look at a wide range of matters including staffing, resources targets and capacity. All political parties would be bound by the findings and recommendations of the expert group.
 
She will say: 

"All of the parties agreed during the referendum campaign that the NHS needs to be protected from privatisation but the real threat comes from rising costs and demographic change.
 
"For too long, party politics has got in the way of taking long-term decisions over our NHS. Time after time, vested interests have been put above patients. We know Scottish patients have suffered as a consequence of staff shortages, missed targets and lack of capacity.
 
"The only way we can move beyond this impasse is to take this issue out of the hands of politicians and put it in the care of the experts, who can work with the public to fix our NHS.
 
"In order that this becomes more than a talking shop, all political parties should sign up to this process and be bound by the results.
 
"We cannot go back to business as usual. It is clear from the referendum that people see the NHS as our most precious resource and want politicians to work together to protect our health service.
 
"My offer to Nicola Sturgeon and the other leaders is a way to fix our NHS by putting party politics aside and working together in the best interests of the people of Scotland. I fear that if we do not take this opportunity, our NHS will continue to decline and patients will pay the price."