Question reference: S3W-35559
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 2 August 2010
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Current status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 August 2010
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the changes to the NHS proposed by the UK Government and any impact that they might have in Scotland.
Answer
Health is a devolved matter and therefore changes proposed by the UK Government to NHS services in England do not have a direct impact on NHSScotland, however we are working with colleagues in the Department of Health to keep in touch with ongoing developments.
The principles within Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS echo the Scottish Government''s commitment to healthcare services free at the point of use for those who need them, and to our ambition to make NHSScotland a world leader in healthcare quality, which is set out in our recently published Healthcare Quality Strategy. However, some of the structural issues are of less relevance in Scotland and some aspects of the UK Government''s proposed approach are very different from the mutual NHS to which we are committed in Scotland. We will continue to consider whether there are any aspects of the UK proposals which might help us deliver the kind of world class services we have set out in our Quality Strategy.