What’s happening to NHS?

WHAT happens if you break the law and you are caught? You would expect to pay a fixed penalty fine or even end up in court.

But what if it is Scottish government ministers? Would you expect them to be held to account by the law?

Well, the SNP government introduced a law in 2012 which gave patients a legal guarantee (that is written into law), that they wouldn’t wait any longer than 12 weeks from treatment being agreed until the start of treatment.

Since then, the law has been broken 28,000 times. That’s right twenty eight thousand.

So what has happened to those who broke the law? Absolutely nothing.

So what is the point of passing laws if they are meaningless and can be broken 28,000 times?

It makes a mockery of our legal system and leaves the politicians open to the accusation of cynical and insincere headline grabbing.

And on the subject of health, why are we still seeing problems at A&E at the RAH?

Last year I saw at first hand patients waiting on trolleys in the corridor for up to 18 hours.

The Scottish government put in a crisis team to sort things out.

So why one year later are we still seeing one patient in four having to wait more than four hours at A&E?

It’s not the fault of staff who are run off their feet. Last week patients were being turned away from the RAH because there were no beds.

And now we find that the Health Board is having to make £60 million of cuts.

Nicola Sturgeon has been in charge of the health service for almost nine years.

The key decisions have been made by her and it’s time she stepped in to give Renfrewshire patients and staff a better deal.

SHAre tea for HD

REGULAR readers of The Gazette will know that many years ago I pledged to help the Scottish Huntington’s Association (SHA) raise awareness of the cruel heredity condition Huntington’s disease (HD).

Set up more than 25 years ago by family members, the charity has grown impressively to include nine regional HD specialist services, a youth service, wellbeing service, financial wellbeing service and family branches.

It remains the only organisation in Scotland providing dedicated HD specialist services in local communities throughout the country and their headquarters are based next to my constituency office at St James Business Park on Linwood Road, Paisley.

During the month of February, the SHA will be holding tea parties throughout Scotland to help raise awareness of the disease and raise much needed funds for people affected by HD.

Hosting a tea party is a really simple and fun way to help support the charity.

If hosting a tea party for Huntington’s is something you’re able and willing to do, you can contact Gemma Powell on 0141 848 0308 for more information.

You can also e-mail gemma.powell@hdscotland.org to request your information pack which includes everything you need to have a successful party.