Rebuilding the NHS

After 19 years of an SNP Government, Scotland is facing a public health crisis.

Our health service has become less efficient, less accountable, and less effective.

Scots struggle to access GP appointments, women’s health remains an afterthought, and the NHS is bloated – with millions wasted on backroom functions which should instead be diverted to frontline care.

The SNP’s policies are not working. That is why the Scottish Conservatives would do things differently.

We would put preventing illness at the heart of policymaking, deliver better outcomes through technology and modernisation, improve primary care, ensure equity in women’s health, and make the NHS work for patients and staff again.

This paper sets out our common-sense plan to rebuild the NHS for the 21st Century, providing timely, local, high-quality care for every Scot, rooted in fairness, trust, and value for money.

  We would cut bureaucracy in our health service by:

• Slashing the number of middle and senior management roles by one-third and redirecting the savings into primary care and mental health services.
• Merging departments within the health service to stop the duplication of near identical departments like HR, procurement and communications.

We would strengthen primary care by:

• Guaranteeing a GP within 48 hours by the end of the next Parliament.
• Introducing a Scottish First Policy for medical and speciality training places to expand Scotland’s medical workforce.

We would modernise our NHS by:

• Fast-tracking the rollout of a single national NHS app by 2028.
• Rolling out AI across the NHS to cut down on bureaucracy and pointless administration roles.

We would build a strong future for our NHS by:

• Cutting delayed discharge waits by ensuring patients can be sent to a local care home where possible to free up space in hospital.
• Eliminating corridor care in hospitals.
• Stopping the closure of community hospitals.