Supporting the NHS in Winter

That the Parliament is deeply concerned that record numbers of patients are waiting over eight and 12 hours in A&E on a weekly basis; acknowledges that hospital capacity continues to be constrained by thousands of bed days lost due to delayed discharge; recognises the tireless work of the NHS staff who care for patients in increasingly difficult and safety critical situations; notes that the Scottish Ministers have not yet resolved the nurses’ and NHS staff pay claim risking industrial action during the winter period; considers the Scottish Government’s NHS Recovery Plan and Winter Plan to be inadequate with the new interim targets to reduce waiting times being missed and no additional funding for the impending winter crisis, and calls for the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to either set out a clear plan to end waiting times of more than eight hours ahead of winter, or to resign.