ELECTION 2021: SNP vow to 'always fight to protect NHS'

THE SNP recognises the importance of our NHS, says Karen Adam, the SNP candidate for Banffshire and Buchan Coast.

We have always been dedicated to ensuring that healthcare is free at the point of delivery but the NHS is also integral to our ambitious Covid recovery plans. We want to shape new ways of working with – and supporting – frontline health services.

We understand the demands that NHS staff have been under since early last year – we will be forever indebted to them. As an early indication of our gratitude we gave NHS staff a £500 thank-you bonus. In addition the SNP government has now offered a substantial pay rise, significantly above the 1 per cent proposal made by the Tories.

Scotland has the best-paid NHS staff in the UK and over the course of this parliament we will ensure that this continues.

Our plans: Introduce a national care service; Scrap non-residential social care charges; Invest £250 million to tackle drug deaths; Record funding for mental health services; Dedicated fast-track cancer diagnosis centres; Scrap NHS dental charges; Maintain free prescriptions.

Aside from this we also want to see as much healthcare as possible provided in the community. That means continuing to reform primary care and investing in services. Primary care and GP services will see a greater share of NHS frontline investment over this parliament with an increase of at least 25 per cent in primary care funding.

Rural health support is another vital area. That is why we are going to roll out more mobile health services for direct delivery of care, particularly important for the countryside. This will include mental health services.

More than ever this year we recognise that having accessible and free healthcare is a crucial human right – vital for a thriving healthy nation.

We will always fight to protect our NHS.

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