 The final item of business is a member's business debate on motion 11441, in the name of Ash Denham, on NHS at 70. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. With those members who wish to speak in the debate, please press the request to speak buttons now. I call on Ruth Maguire to open the debate. It is a pleasure to be introducing this debate to celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS here in Scotland, and I look forward to hearing the contributions from across the floor. There is no one in Scotland who is not benefited from the NHS in some way or another, either treated themselves or cared for a loved one. It has become an integral part of Scottish society. On this anniversary, it is appropriate for us to reflect on the transformative effect that the NHS has had here in Scotland, none of which would be possible without those who make the NHS the incredible service it is today—the porters, the surgeons, the nurses, the catering staff, the cleaners, the ambulance drivers, paramedics and so many more. We owe a great debt of gratitude to current and past NHS staff. I thank them all. In celebrating 70 years of incredible service, we must also remember the circumstance that led to its creation. In the early 20th century, there was no centralised health service. Treatment was expensive and health provision was inconsistent. Investigations into public health exposed high levels of poverty and low levels of public health across Scotland. A doctor's visit could cost as much as 10 per cent of an annual income. It is right that we acknowledge the commitment of both the Labour Government and, in particular, an Iron Bevan in establishing the nationwide NHS to end those conditions. Their commitment to creating a collective health service, free at the point of need and paid for through taxation, was revolutionary. The beverage report was, of course, a main driver of the changes, but we can also look to highly influential reports undertaken here in Scotland. The Dure Committee report that established the Highlands and Islands medical service in 1912, providing state-funded medical care for those unable to afford it a full three decades before the establishment of the NHS. The Cathcart report that advocated a radical reform of healthcare provision in Scotland, putting GPs at the heart of medical care. David Stewart. Would the member share my view that, where the Highlands and Islands leads, the rest of Scotland follows? You better say yes, Ms McGuire. I am a Highland girl, so absolutely, I would say that yes. Providing state-funded medical care for those unable to afford it a full three decades before the establishment of the NHS. The Cathcart report that advocated a radical reform of healthcare provision in Scotland, putting GPs at the heart of medical care. These created a consensus that action had to be taken to improve the state of Scotland's health well before the introduction of the NHS in 1948. Bevin was right when he described putting the welfare of the sick for every other consideration as the most civilised thing in the world. I do not think that the impact the NHS would have had on Scotland, nor its impact on world medicine could have been imagined. For in its 70 years, the Scottish NHS has achieved some remarkable accomplishments. Over these past decades, Scottish medical academies and practitioners have been at the forefront of medical discoveries and the development of new treatments that have been both truly world-class and world-changing. Glasgow developed the first practical ultrasound and Glasgow coma scale, both exported to the world. Edinburgh is the home of the UK's first successful kidney transplant and where the dangers of thalamidamide were exposed. Aberdeen is home of the first ever MRI scan, while the first keyhole surgery took place in Dundee. The NHS in Dumfries, Aberdeen and Dundee are early pioneers of screening for cervical cancer, while Edinburgh established a UK first to screen for breast cancer. Scotland is the home of Sir James Black, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize for medicine for his drug discoveries relating to heart disease and stomach ulcers. Staying true to the vision of improved public health, Scotland has twice acted as a world leader. Being the first UK nation to introduce the smoking ban and being the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol. Under the Scottish National Party Government, the Scottish patient safety programme has internationally recognised as the first national system to systematically improve the safety and reliability of hospital care, while the diet and obesity strategy continues in this vein of continued progressive action. As we look back, we can see just what a transformative impact the NHS in Scotland has had on the lives of those living here, but also on the lives of millions across the globe. Government are entrusted by the electorate to look after NHS Scotland to guarantee it for the next generation, and it's a responsibility that must not be taken lightly. I'm proud that this SNP Government has delivered on this promise to the electorate overseeing major improvements in the NHS and in public health. The Scottish Government has prioritised health threat at its time in office, successfully protecting the front-line health budget, keeping the NHS publicly owned and free at the point of need, scrapping prescription charges, protecting free eye tests and ensuring continued free personal care for the elderly, recognising that the NHS cannot provide a world-class service with an imaginary Brexit dividend. We've invested a record amount in the NHS. Scotland now has the highest number of NHS workers on record so that it can see a doctor to get the medical treatment that it requires, so that your loved ones are cared for properly by nurses and midwifes, and delivering the highest GP to patient ratio in the UK so that it can get access to a GP when you need it. We've rewarded our NHS workers making them the best paid in the UK. The NHS has undergone many changes as it's faced challenges over the years. We must always seek ways to improve the NHS and never shy away from our responsibilities. The SNP is committed to meeting those challenges to retain our NHS's reputation as one of the world's leading health services. As we reflect on 70 successful years, we can see why the NHS is held in such high regard in Scotland. It has delivered a revolutionary service free of charge at the point of need, creating a healthier, fairer Scotland. It's a source of great pride as an innovative world-class service, so it's right that we celebrate it now. Take this time to imagine how much further we can go in the next 70 years. Thank you very much, Mr Gwar. I call Brian Whittle. We are followed by David Stewart. Mr Whittle, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I draw members' attention to my register of interests. I have a close family member who is a healthcare professional with the Scottish NHS. I would also like to congratulate Ash Denham for securing time in this chamber to celebrate the 70 years of our most treasured institution. I also want to take the opportunity to welcome the new front bench led by Cabinet Secretary, Jeane Freeman, and wish them well in the new appointments. In doing that, I want to take the opportunity to thank Shona Robison for her time as Cabinet Secretary. I know that we didn't always agree on everything, but I think that no one could deny her commitment to the post. On a personal level, I want to specifically thank her for all her help in constituency cases, some of which were very delicate and complicated. I think that it's an element of this job that is not often mentioned, nor seen by the public, which she was always willing to help in finding solutions. I just wanted to put that on the record, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is the second debate in as many days in the chamber. Such is the positive strength of feeling supporting our NHS and all the staff who deliver what is and is sometimes forgotten in the heat of debate, a world-renowned service. It is without doubt held up as a shining light and health delivery by countries around the world, and we have quite rightly recognised the incredible work that our NHS staff do on a daily basis, both in yesterday's debate and again in this one. I was looking back into 1948 when the NHS came into being and at that time, I was in his upturned bucket, offering weekly cheer along with the bruins, and in sport, which I have to mention sport, Hibs had won the league, Rangers won the cup, East Fife won the league cup, and Henry Cotten had just won his third British Open at Muirfield. Kathy Gibson from Motherwell was about to head off to the London Olympics, where she became the only British swimming medalist. However, I was thinking that the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same. In 1948, there was a recognition that major change was needed to look after the health of the nation and also tackle those health inequalities. Here we are 70 years later, with all the incredible developments and treatments and procedures still debating those self-same issues. This morning, Lewis MacDonald and I chaired a conference entitled Nick Steps for Integrated and Social Care in Scotland, Governance and Workforce Planning and Improving Delivery of Care. Wonderful title, I have to say. I will not need to short that bit. What came out loud and clear is that major changes are under way and further changes are required. They are wrestling with the implementation of the integrated joint board policy. It is also very clear that prevention must move further up the agenda if the current health inequalities are to be tackled. I did raise the point again this morning that I thought the first step in developing a preventable agenda is looking after the health of our healthcare professionals. It is cosla that said that healthcare professionals will forgo their own health to deliver care to others. That is the nature of those who decide to go into the care of others in their NHS. However, if we are to strive for a healthier nation, we require those that we charge with delivering that policy to themselves have the opportunity to have that active, healthy lifestyle. Currently, our nurses, midwives among others are on average unhealthier than the rest of our population. That is the result of the workload that they willingly accept to ensure the good health of others. In celebrating 70 years of the NHS, we should be looking ahead at the next 70 years to ensure the sustainability and the very basis of the NHS, which is free healthcare at the point of need. We are going to have to accept change. In fact, we are going to drive the change that the healthcare profession itself is asking for. I look forward to continuing this debate with the new Scottish Government's new health team. Thank you very much. I call David Stewart to be followed by Emma Harper. Mr Stewart, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and congratulations to Ash Denham for securing this evening's debate and for her elevation to ministerial ranks. Well done to Ruth McGuire for stepping up to the plate. I presume at the last moment, and I'd also welcome Jeane Freeman, Claire Hawke and Joe Spatrick to their new roles and every success in your new role. Clearly, white smoke has been much in evidence, Presiding Officer, the last few days. I'd also like placing record my thanks to Shona Robison particularly for the help that she has given along with Boyan Watt to the work that I was carrying out in diabetes. My colleague Anna Sauer has asked me to pass on his apologies. He's speaking in London this evening to a Westminster APPG on Islamophobia. Ngai Bevan launched then excess at the Park hospital Manchester, where the first ever patient was 13-year-old Sylvia Beckinham. She was treated for a liver condition. That was a big event in her life, but an even bigger event in British history, the birth of a national icon and institution. No one, Presiding Officer, could have predicted how Ngai Bevan's infant would grow if it would survive its early days, develop into adulthood, even if it would mature into old age. Yet the NHS, our NHS, is turning 70 years old, and its story is impressive. The uniting of all the hospitals and the doctor's surgeries into state-run service was groundbreaking in the western world. In the 1970s, we had the first heart and lower transplants. The first kidney transplant took place here in Edinburgh royal infirmary. The 1970s saw the first test-you baby and CT scans, which revolutionised the way doctors examined patients. Breast cancer screening was introduced in 1980s, and the 2000s saw a new emphasis on public health with measures such as the smoking ban. Ngai Bevan and Labour parties assessed we found the NHS over the teeth of strong opposition, and three score in 10 years later, the Labour party is still defending it. I'm proud of belonging to party with that 70-year-old pedigree, but I'm proud as still of its hard-working front-line staff, the junior doctors, the nurses, the midwives, the consultants, GPs, allied health professionals, porters and receptionists. Despite their hard work and commitment, we face a number of challenges. Our ageing population, pressure on social care, the need for robust workforce planning now and post-Brexit, and a growing mental health crisis. The nature of those public health challenges may look modern, but the surface, the root causes are the same. Poverty, social deprivation and inequality are significant contributors to poor health expectations, and it's the least well-off who are most at risk. So inequality and health was a serious issue at the birth of the NHS, and it remains a serious issue today. Life expectancy in the UK is stalled, and in the last 50 years, the chasm between the health outcomes of the rich and the poor has widened. Is it not an outrage that, in our 21st century society, individuals' health expectations are generally linked to their postcode? In reality, innovation will be the key to the future of the NHS, so we must ensure that good ideas are embraced with open arms. For example, flash glucose monitoring with freestyle Libra monitors has revolutionised the management of glucose for individuals with diabetes, and I supported Diabetes Scotland's campaign for monitors to be available across all the Scotland's health boards and to fight the postcode lottery. In England, five NHS trusts are trialling a step into health programme that utilises transferable skills of armed forces veterans and encourages them into the NHS workforce. There are exciting developments in the fight against superbugs, with the use of UVC light to sanitise surgical tools in 60 seconds using the nanoclave cabinet designed with a tech firm Physicine. Pioneering initiatives and technology research must be encouraged if we're going to stew the NHS through the next 70 years in the 21st century. Ngai Bevan's words from the start of the NHS are as applicable today as they were then. The NHS will last as long as there's folk left with faith to fight for it. Thank you very much, Mr Stewart. I call Emma Harper to be followed by Alison Johnstone. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'd like to congratulate my colleague Ash Denham in securing this historic, significant and celebratory debate and Ruth Maguire for eloquently outlining historical information leading to the formation of the NHS. That is a personally significant debate for me as I proudly direct you to my register of interests. I started my nurse training in 1984 and I'm very proud to be a nurse. In fact, I've got three sisters who are also nurses and between us, the Harper sisters have almost 140 years of NHS nursing experience. Part of Ash Denham's motion states, Salutes continuous hard work and contributions of NHS staff throughout the years. Indeed, I am keen to focus to celebrate the staff who have cared, contributed and collaborated for 70 years. From the phlebotomist who often has patients who are sick, tired, peripherally shut down and yet they still manage to find a vein to take blood, this is our NHS. The radiographers also who show empathy, care and are discreet when obtaining your mammogram. This is our NHS. My first Saturday in the operating room at DJRI as a new staff nurse, I had a patient with a ruptured aortic aneurysm. I was brand new and Christina Marshall and John Carnigan kept me right. The whole team were fantastic. The patient survived following lots of fresh frozen plasma and lots of red blood cells and I accompanied the patient to the ICU. The roles involved in that one case, surgeon, assistant surgeons, anaesthetists, lab techs, blood donors, phlebotomists, floor nurses, scrub nurses, anaesthetic nurses, ICU and radiology technicians, 13 experts, this is our NHS. Comfort, care, collaboration, experts. I've worked in NHS Scotland, NHS England and I spent 14 years as an economic migrant working at Cedarsine and a medical centre in Los Angeles as a transplant nurse and nurse educator. It was that experience of working in private healthcare in the USA that truly showed me how essential and amazing our NHS is. I know from first hand experience what an awful, frustrating, conundrum it is for people who cannot afford to get sick, cannot afford to be injured or cannot afford their medication. When I was in the USA it cost me £800 every month for health insurance, so that was about £600. That didn't cover my type 1 diabetes. I had to pay for my insulin, syringes, test strips, my blood test and machine and Dave has just noted that we now have more blood testing and development technology, which is absolutely fantastic. We are so lucky to have our NHS. We need to protect it and not just the health service, we need to protect our free prescriptions and we need to protect every single person who works in our NHS. People who work in our NHS experience trauma, tragedy and triumph every day. An important thing to remember is that the NHS may be 70 years in existence but it is not a collector's item, it is not old and it is not a thing of the past. Our NHS has never rested on its laurels. It is an ever-changing, ever-improving, ever-growing, dynamic health service. That is the triumph of our NHS. I know it seems like change comes as slow as turning a big oil tanker but when you are in the NHS the change and performance improvement, the best practice is constantly evolving and changing. Our NHS is a national treasure. It is constantly improving and adapting. I would like to make sure that we continue to support it. Finally, I would like to thank Shona Robison for her contribution, her hard work and excellence. As cab secretary, we now have a new team. I would like to welcome the new team to the front bench and look forward to working with Jeane Freeman, Claire Hawke and Jovis Patrick in the future. I am not allowed to applaud. I sometimes want to applaud. Ms Johnson, please. I am followed by Annie Wells. I too would like to begin by congratulating the new health front bench. I look forward to working with you to improve Scotland's health. I would also like to thank Shona Robison for her clear commitment to improving our national health. Her door was always open and I am sure that yours will be too. Presiding Officer, there is much to be proud of about our NHS, so much to be proud of. I am delighted that we are marking it's 78th year by paying tribute to all the staff who make it the incredible service that is in such an important part of our national life in Scotland. The roots of the NHS here in Scotland go even further back to the Dewar Commission of 1912, which helped to establish the Highlands and Islands Medical Service in 1913. Dr Annie Tindley's research has helped us to discover the importance of the Dewar report, and when we celebrated the Dewar centenary with a debate in Parliament, it led us to question how care and treatment in rural areas could be better supported today. There is much we can learn from the history of our health service, and while it is vital to support innovation in our healthcare and treatment, we must never stop looking back at the collective endeavour and values that have been its foundation. Members have rightly highlighted the incredible advances that we have seen in medical treatment since the NHS began. If we want to build on those and ensure that every generation looks forward to better health than the last, then we have to renew that sense of collective care and ambition in other aspects of our public life. In recent years, we have seen, for the first time in a long time, life expectancy in the UK begins to fall. It is not a coincidence that that has happened in an age of austerity. Professor Danny Dorling is clear that the politics of austerity are the most plausible reason for this troubling trend. Professor Michael Marmot links that to the UK Government's spending record and states that social expenditure is among the most miserly of Western European countries. The impact seems to be most severe in the areas of high deprivation, which have suffered de-industrialisation and are now being hit by another round of welfare reform. We are, I am sure, united in believing that your life expectancy shouldn't depend on where you're born, but our health is still being damaged by economic inequality and many other forms of discrimination and prejudice. Martin Luther King said that of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman, but we still see severe health inequalities in Scotland, and not only between the richest and poorest parts of the country. The links between poverty and mental health are so clear. The impact of damp, cold housing and a poor diet on our health is so obvious. If we don't fix those problems, our NHS takes the strain. Above all, we can never, as others have said, give up the principle that healthcare must be free at the point of need. In Scotland, we have made the decision that vital social care should be free at the point of need, too, on ending charges for personal social care. Shona Robison listened, and she should be applauded for making that position a reality. I also believe that we could still go further in ending charges for other care, but I have no doubt that the changes that this Parliament has pushed for will have long-term benefits for our collective health and our NHS. Let's not forget that minimum unit pricing has now been introduced, too. However, it is right that, at times, we call for change within the NHS itself. However, I reflect on the Nuffield Foundation's view that, where the NHS in England has been hampered by multiple reforms, marketisation and competing priorities, the NHS here has benefitted, in some ways, from a consistent approach to improvement and openness to collaboration. I heard with alarm the news that the private healthcare firm Virgin Care won £2 million of public money by suing NHS England. We have to make sure that our NHS and the public are protected from corporate interests. The prospect of leaving the EU raises real concerns, too. The new cabinet secretary for health must be absolutely resolute in defending the NHS in Scotland. Presiding Officer, I'm glad to celebrate the achievements and ambitions of the NHS today. Our society doesn't always feel like a caring place, but every day there are patients in our waiting rooms and hospital beds who know they can trust the nurse they'll see, the doctor they'll meet, wherever they are and whatever treatment they need. The efforts of thousands of healthcare professionals, researchers, administrators and support staff make that treatment possible, and we must never underestimate how much we all rely on them. Thank you. I call Annie Wells. We're followed by Jackie Baillie, Ms Wells, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I also welcome the front bench of the health team to the chamber today. I thank Ash Denham for securing this debate this evening. It's absolutely fantastic that we have the opportunity to contribute in this debate that celebrates a national service renowned across the world. I, too, wish to give my heartfelt thanks to every member of the NHS's hardworking staff, people who work tirelessly under extreme pressing conditions. I think that we've all had our own personal experiences of the NHS and one that we'll always stick in my mind was eight years ago. We got the call we would never expect to say, I think it's time to come up and say goodbye to your dad. We went up to the hospital and the staff that we're looking after, my dad says, we're not giving up but we just wanted to give you that opportunity to say your final farewells. It was only through their expertise, their determination and extremely hard work that we managed to keep my dad for an extra three years, three years that we could spend with him, and for that I will be ever truly grateful. I'm also extremely grateful to have a debate that allows time to reflect on what the NHS represents to us as a nation and to celebrate all that it has to offer. Over the last 70 years, the NHS has transformed the health and wellbeing of our nation, delivering huge medical advances and allowing people to live longer lives. Officially formed in 1948 and pioneered by Labour MP and then health secretary in Ibevan, the NHS for the first time brought hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists together under one umbrella to provide services for free at the point of delivery. In Scotland, the service was set up by a separate act passed a year earlier to reflect the country's own established medical traditions as well as its links to assumed medical schools and ancient universities. Since then we've seen many milestones in Scotland and I too wish to highlight the great successes many others have. In 1960, the UK's first successful kidney transplant took place right here in Edinburgh at the Royal Infirmary. In 1980, the world's first clinical service for MRIs was launched at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and in 1989, key-hole surgery was used for the first time in the UK at the Nine Wales hospital in Dundee. Fast forward 70 years from its inception and we can see how much things have changed and positive impact this has had on our population's health. 140,000 staff are now employed by NHS Scotland and in 2016-17 alone, it performed 1.5 million hospital procedures and conducted around 17 million GP consultations. There are growing demands and it's important to reflect on that also. In the years since the NHS was set up, demographic and health trends have changed significantly. On top of increasing costs, the NHS has seen a growing demand for its services, meaning that more people are waiting longer to be seen. The pressure on staff is a huge concern and it's thanks to the huge passion of those who work in the NHS that the quality of care has remained at the level it has. In finishing today, I would like again to stress the importance of supporting our hard-working NHS staff. As it celebrates its 70th birthday, the NHS faces many challenges across Scotland. Today is not the day to raise them, but I would like to make the very important point that for our society to flourish as a whole, building a sustainable NHS fit for the future must be a top priority. The correct resources and fresh vision for the future must be outlined. At some point in their lives, everyone in Scotland will use a service provided or funded by the NHS and we vote to all our citizens to ensure that the NHS experience is the highest standards at all times. Thank you very much. I call Jackie Baillie, to be followed by Sandra White. Ms Baillie, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Let me join with others in congratulating Ash Denham for securing debating time and on her promotion which explains her absence from the chamber today. Indeed, thank Ruth Maguire for standing in an incredibly short notice and for the content of her speech. Let me also join with others in welcoming the new Cabinet Secretary, Jean Freeman, Clare Hockey and Joe Fitzpatrick to their new positions. They can be sure that I will beat a path to their door about the Vale of Leven hospital, among other things, but, incidentally, the Vale of Leven hospital was, of course, the first hospital built after the creation of the NHS. I also want to thank Shona Robison and Maureen Watt for their contribution to the NHS and to Government as well. I think that the NHS is arguably Labour's greatest achievement, probably the greatest achievement, in my view, of any Government. When you think back to that 1945 Labour Government, they had a radical vision and they acted quickly to deliver it. The creation of the welfare state, the creation of the NHS, all at a time of severe post-war austerity, but it signalled the kind of country we want to be. As Anayr and Bevan said, no society can legitimately call itself civilised and sick person is denied medical aid because of a lack of means. On 5 July 1948, our NHS was born. You didn't need to pay for your healthcare if you were ill. You weren't penalised as a result of ill health. Instead, this was a cost shared by all. Equality and social justice, the founding basis of the NHS and three core principles at the heart of that. That it meets the needs of everyone, that it be free at the point of delivery, that it is based on clinical need, not the ability to pay. Whilst those principles hold good today, there have been some challenges. Medicine itself has changed dramatically over the years. That's a positive thing. We're all living longer. Some diseases have been completely eradicated. That's great, but we're not necessarily healthier and there are more and more of us appearing in our hospitals. It is the case that, although there may be more money and more staff, the reality is that we're treating many, many more people than we ever have before. That causes considerable strain. We see it in the unfilled vacancies because we don't have enough doctors and nurses. We see it in the increasingly long waiting times in my area for orthopedics and ophthalmology. People waiting in pain for more than 52 weeks. We see it in the longer cancer waiting times when hundreds of patients are let down by the system. We know that the longer they wait, the more it has an impact on their mortality. Across a whole range of areas, there are huge challenges. I'm not going to point to them all, but I recognise that our NHS staff do a tremendous job for which we can't ever begin to thank them enough. They are overworked and understaffed. We can't expect them to do ever more with declining resources. That's something I know is a concern shed across the chamber. Bevan's vision, despite the challenges and the changes in medicine, has stood the test of time. At the centre of his vision was the NHS. Seventy years on, it remains at the centre of the life of our nation. A unique institution, not just in Scotland but across the UK, and still a uniquely powerful engine of social justice that we all value in the years to come. Thank you. I call Sandra White to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Miss White, please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I thank Ash Durham for securing this debate and I congratulate Ruth Maguire for stepping in in a very well-delivered speech as well. Presiding Officer, I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Shona Robinson for all the work that she's done in her time as Cabinet Secretary and Health Secretary. Door was always open, as has already been said, and I'm sure that it will be open again for the new team that's there. I wish her well in her future role. I welcome Jeane Freeman to her new role. It will be a challenge, but I'm sure that she and the team, Jo Fitzpatrick, and that others will certainly rise to that challenge. I look forward to working with them as well. I have to point out that I found Emma Harper's contribution very, very moving. It was something that run true with me because my contribution is possibly not the same because I don't have the experience of Emma, but it's slightly similar because I'm not as old as at NHS, but I do remember many years ago my grandmother and my mother as well. They would talk about the times when they couldn't afford medical care, they couldn't afford a doctor, because as has been said previously, people had to pay for that, and sometimes whole-closes chipped in together to get money to pay for a doctor to come along whole streets even. I'm sure that it's the same perhaps in villages as well, where the communities would chip in together and never more so so much when it was to do with maternity care. When we think of the amount of women who seriously died during childbirth because they couldn't afford a doctor or a midwife, it's something that is really, really important the fact that the community spirit people did put forward to get money to people to come to see them without having to go to moneylenders as they were then as well. It seems pretty unbelievable now when we look at what we've got. That's why it's really, really important that we ensure that we celebrate the NHS but we make sure that privatisation does not keep in as Emma has said, who's had that first-hand experience and such an emotional contribution. I don't think anyone would have been not moved by it. We must ensure that healthcare remains free at the point of use delivery. It's available to all. We must ensure that privatisation, as I said, is never brought forward and is never an option. People never have to borrow and scrape to actually receive healthcare. That's a really important mission. We certainly have moved on in 1947. It did start in Scotland, albeit smaller, and then in 1948 the rest of the UK. The improvements that have been put forward in public health, the NHS, has basically been absolutely fantastic. I'm sure that people couldn't believe that we've moved on to that in 70 years. There's no comparison, basically, when it went on then and what is going on just now in that respect. We're looking at lots of other strategies, not in public health, to do with tobacco, obesity, alcohol, diets. They all further improve our health and I think that it's absolutely fantastic. I know that I'm quite short out of time but on a personal note, I really have nothing but praise for the NHS. The treatment that my family received when a member of my family was taken very ill was absolutely second to none. Intensive care, the staff, were absolutely fantastic. Nothing was too much trouble for them. A one-to-one service. I never heard the NHS staff complain once, particularly when we were asking them questions, what's that machine for, what's the other machine for. They would tell us that it was absolutely fantastic and I have nothing but praise for them. The other part is the aftercare. We don't talk enough about that, but the aftercare that we received was unbelievable. It still goes on just now. Phone calls, appointments, people coming out of the house, it's absolutely fantastic. It goes without saying that personally I and everyone here are absolutely indebted to the many people who work in the health service and I personally want to thank them very, very much. Thank you. I have to say to Ms White, I've just realised that I'm older than the NHS. There we go. Yes, I prayed so, guys. I called Jeremy Balfour last week in the open debate. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. In the short time that I have, I would like to give three words that I think for me to find the NHS and with your permission, three personal examples of how that has worked out in my life. The first is innovation and we've heard that from other speakers already tonight that things such as kidney transplants, other cutting-edge technology have been developed through our NHS both here in Scotland and the UK. If I could take you back 51 years ago when I was born, I was born with just one finger and at the age of six months, a Douglas Lam, who was a consultant here at the PMR, decided to take the innovation of cutting that finger to give me two fingers. Never been done before, but that innovation allowed me to be able to do so much more than I would have been done just with one finger. Beyond that, not just Mr Lam, who is saddening no longer with us, but OTs, physios, auxiliaries, nurses paid such a compliment into my life that allows me to be able to stand here today. For people like Mr Lam, for those who are willing to take a risk to help someone, we say thank you. Secondly, for me, the NHS is caring and compassionate. I have experienced that on numerous occasions in my life, as a 13-year-old about to go through a scoliosis operation. The time the nurses spent with me the night before is something even all that time I remember. But if I can take you, Presiding Officer, to eight years ago, to a Saturday afternoon when my little girl was born asleep, the worst moment in my life. But what I remember is not just the pain of her loss, but is the care and love that was given by the midwives, by the nurses, by the auxiliaries to me and my wife. The caring and compassion is something that defines our NHS and we should say thank you. Thirdly, finally, it is the dedication and the gourmet extra mile of the doctors. Because if I can take you forward from that dark period in our lives to just seven years ago, my wife had been through a difficult pregnancy. We were expecting twin girls who were going to have to end up in special care at the Simpsons here in Edinburgh. We had to wait until there were two spaces available there. Our consultant, Shona Cowan, had worked a 24-hour shift. When that morning it was announced that there were two spaces available. She went home for a short sleep, came back on her day off to deliver my two girls. That is gourmet extra mile. That is what doctors, nurses, auxiliaries, physios, everything within the NHS do on a daily basis. Across the chamber, although we have political differences and divides, all of us can unite in saying happy birthday NHS. Thank you very much, Mr Balfour. It was very difficult for you but it was an extraordinary speech. It must mean a lot to those in the NHS. Those of you have shared your experiences. I know that I should not say these things but I am all upset by it. I now call Jeane Freeman to close the chamber. I have to call the minister just now because she has not yet been voted in by the Parliament technically. Ms Freeman, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Let me start by thanking all the members who have contributed to this debate. I thank Emma Harper, Sandra White and Jeremy Balfour for being willing to share with us such deeply personal but very important experiences and stories that encapsulate what the NHS means to so many people across Scotland. I am absolutely delighted that the first words that I am saying in the chamber, as Cabinet Secretary, designate for health and sport, is to pay tribute to the work of NHS staff, both past and present, on the occasion of NHS's 70th birthday and subject to parliamentary approval. Let me say on my own behalf and on behalf of my colleagues in the health team how much we look forward to continuing the work of those in the NHS. I look forward to continuing the work of those who have gone before us and absolutely working to secure the precious NHS that we have in Scotland. Across the... Jackie Baillie was quite right, of course, to remind us of the importance of that founding vision and of that Labour Government acting on it. But it wasn't an easy birth and we need to remember that that birth itself was in many ways resisted by those who feared it, by those who felt that it would work against their personal interests and by those who did not see the value of that collective investment that we make together and have done over those generations in something as vital to daily life as our health. I too, as Sandra White, has recounted, well remember, in my case, my mother and my father, describing the situation before there was a national health service, my grandfather being a herbalist because that was one of the ways that he would provide some degree of healthcare and support in his village, but the huge impact of the introduction of the NHS on all of their lives and indeed, as Sandra White said, often in particular on the lives of women. The NHS is an essential part of all our lives. It is true for members of this Parliament and for every person in the country and it has been true for 70 years. The NHS has provided world-class medical care to successive generations. It has adapted and evolved during that time but has always remained true to its founding principle of being free at the point of delivery. Members have mentioned many of the achievements of our health service here in Scotland. I would add one of my own and that is the Caldon pain technique developed at the Golden Jubilee national hospital and being effective across the country in reducing pain for very many people going through elective orthopedic surgery and making a significant difference indeed to their hospital stay. I was reminded only the other day that not more than a few years ago part of our debate on health would always have focused on infection and how much work across our health service has been done to challenge and eradicate and minimise where it is not possible to eradicate hospital-acquired infection. The NHS has always faced challenges from its earliest days until the present. David Stewart, Emma Harper, Alison Johnstone and others are right to talk about its history of innovation and I am proud that in Scotland we invest as a Government in the innovation centre at Clydebank specifically to encourage and turn into practice innovative ideas that will make a practical difference to patients and to those who work in our health service. Demand on services of course continues to rise and so rightly do expectations. There is no doubt that the ways that we deliver health and social care in Scotland must continue to evolve and improve in order to deliver safe, affordable and sustainable services in the future. Services that continue to meet those expectations. Our health and social care delivery plan sets out our shared framework for delivering on the challenges and work is well underway at both the national and original level. Health boards and their partners across health and social care are coming together to develop and implement proposals that will increase the pace of improvement and focus our efforts on what is needed for better care better health and better value and one of the key cornerstones of that is of course the what matters to you programme. Where we focus or with patients on what matters to them between the publication of the delivery plan and the end of 2018-19 we expect to see a 7 per cent reduction in acute unscheduled bed days across Scotland. That's about 280,000 bed days a huge step in the right direction for patients and staff and only this morning I witnessed and learned something about the initiative that has been taken here in Edinburgh at the ERI and with general GP practices across the city to focus on that what matters to you and in doing so improve the healthcare the speed of healthcare and reduce the number of unscheduled and other visits to A&E. Across Scotland the latest published data from February will show that since August 2016 the number of days spent in hospital by people where discharge was delayed has reduced by over 15 per cent but I am in absolutely no doubt that there is scope for further improvements our focus on prevention integration and closer collaboration to deliver improved population health is one of the central themes of the delivery plan and I absolutely recognise all of the challenges that members have so thoughtfully and if I may say so maturely and it is my firm belief as I believe one of our members said that if we can where it is possible to do so work collaboratively across parties and across this chamber then there are many problems and issues that I am convinced we can collectively solve we will of course continue to politically disagree on some matters and that is fine but yes of course Maurice Corry I thank the cabinet secretary for giving way would the cabinet secretary agree with me that the NHS staff in Scotland as reservists in the armed forces have provided the most magnificent support to our armed forces in many conflict zones throughout the world since the NHS Scotland was born I certainly would and indeed our NHS staff provide significant and important services in many different settings not least in our prison service and elsewhere we have made huge strides over the past 70 years in public health I am very proud indeed of the fact that we are leading the way on minimum pricing of alcohol it's a bold policy that I believe shows our commitment to public health and a policy we stuck with through many difficult trials and tribulations looking ahead the development of an agreed set of public health priorities is now complete producing priorities for the whole public sector work is also well under way with COSLA and with SOLIS to develop the new public health body that will direct public health improvement across the country alongside our quest for improved services we know that we can only make a difference to people's lives as a result of the dedicated, skilled and talented staff working within our health service every single achievement and success over the past 70 years would not have happened without their hard work and commitment and that's why we announced on Monday that agenda for change staff working in the health service in Scotland will be offered at least a 9 per cent pay rise over the next three years the highest pay uplift across these islands that will cover around 170,000 staff covering nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, paramedics, porters and others and it is a recognition of the value we place on their work and I hope we'll see an increase in our ability to recruit and retain the staff we need in order to continue to provide not only innovation but high quality compassionate services Presiding Officer in conclusion as a Government and I'm certain as a Parliament our task as we go forward is that when we pass the vital service this vital compassionate service on to future generations that it has a clear direction and a solid foundation grounded in a workforce that is valued and gives value back to the service throughout the working lives of each one of them let me finally conclude by paying tribute to Shona Robison and Maureen Watt and to their predecessors but particular Ms Robison for the health service and their work as fine public servants and by saying lastly a very sincere and a very well meant and deeply meant thank you from across this chamber and from this team to all our health and social care staff to volunteers who work in the health service across Scotland for their hard work, their dedication and above all the care and the compassion they deliver every single day and we will not forget that thank you I thank all members for their contributions and that concludes the debate and I close this meeting of Parliament