- Former opponents come together around health care reforms
- Alex Neil and Dr Richard Simpson, along with Dr Alastair Noble identify immediate practical steps
- They call for immediate adoption of the NHS England app
Enlighten today releases an action paper written by former SNP Health Secretary Alex Neil, former Labour shadow Public Health Minister Dr Richard Simpson, and former Nairn GP Dr Alastair Noble, who was awarded an MBE for his work in integrating health and social care.
The trio have written individual papers for Enlighten, but have now come together to highlight some immediate, practical actions which the Scottish Government could take in order to improve outcomes.
The recommendations include:
- The convening of a cross party commission to develop a comprehensive, long-term business plan for health and social care
- Licensing the NHS England app now instead of trying to reinvent the wheel
- Identifying someone from a business background to review the use of medicines to identify areas of waste
- Scrapping the recently announced GP walk-in centres and reinvesting the money in existing GP practices
The full paper, ‘Looking Beyond Party Politics: What Should Health & Care Look Like in Scotland in 2035’ can be read here .
Commenting on behalf of the group, Alex Neil said:
“Governance, prevention and people have to be at the heart of the urgent reform that is required. Scotland is not short of good ideas, but implementation has long been where we fall down. That needs to change.
“We are well past the point where we can afford for this to be a party political issue. There are some immediate actions which transcend ideology and transcend politics, and it is those actions we must now take.
“One of the clearest, immediate actions would be to license the English NHS app. We need to stop trying to re-invent the wheel. Not everything needs a Saltire added to it.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- ‘Looking Beyond Party Politics: What Should Health & Care Look Like in Scotland in 2035’ can be read here.
- Enlighten is a public policy institute which works to promote increased economic prosperity, opportunity for all, and more effective public services. Enlighten is independent of political parties and any other organisations. It is funded by donations from private individuals, charitable trusts and corporate organisations. Its Director is Chris Deerin and Alison Payne is the Research Director. Both work closely with the Trustee Board, chaired by Lord McConnell, which meets regularly to review the research and policy programme.
- For media contact Andy Maciver, [email protected], 07855 261 244