Scottish independence "will damage NHS"
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NHS Highland’s longest serving board member has warned a ‘yes’ vote will damage Highland health services and could lead to people having to pay for treatment.
David Alston finds the prospect of a “yes” vote “frightening” and claims it would leave a £6 billion black-hole in the first years of independence.
The SNP insists a ‘no’ vote would see Scotland’s budget suffer from Westminster’s austerity cuts.
The future of the health service has been a key battleground of the independence debate and is a cornerstone of the Yes Scotland campaign.
Health is devolved to the Scottish Government but the SNP and the Yes campaign say its funding relies on the block grant, which they believe will be proportionately diminished as Westminster funding is reduced.
Last month, former Liberal Democrat leader of Highland Council and NHS Highland board member Dr Michael Foxley, who was an NHS GP for 40 years, announced he was voting 'yes'.
Mary Scanlon, Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP and the party's former health spokeswoman, said the UK government has not made any funding cuts to the health budget, and stressed health funding for Scotland went up by £300 million last year.
Mr Alston, a Liberal Democratic Highland council, who serves as the authority’s deputy leader, has spent more than a decade on the NHS Highland health board.
“In these ten years nothing has frightened me as much as the prospect of a Yes vote. The resulting hole in Scotland’s public finances is likely to be at least £6 billion in the first year of independence. Will the funding gap be filled by higher taxes, as in Norway or Denmark? The SNP say no. Or will we be like Ireland and pay €100 for a visit to Accident & Emergency? Or €100 a day for treatment in hospital?"
A spokesman for the SNP said: “A ‘yes’ vote is our one opportunity to protect our NHS and enshrine its position in a written constitution – which is one of the reasons more and more people across the Highlands are switching from ‘no’ to ‘yes’.
