18 May 2023
Gulhane on Politics 15May2023
On this week's Gulhane on Politics:
The ongoing saga of the SNP in crisis;
Tackling less survivable brain cancers;
and a father's heart breaking story of his daughter's life limiting condition.
The SNP drama is playing out like a Netflix mini series.
Police Scotland pitched its tent on Nicola Sturgeon’s front lawn and arrested her husband, Peter Murrell – all in connection with an ongoing investigation into the SNP’s murky finances.
Officers also turned up at Mr Murrell’s 92 year old mother’s driveway in Dunfermline and towed away a luxury campervan.
A newly-minted and mortified First Minister Humza Yousaf then had to admit that the SNP’s auditors resigned way back in October last year and that the Party’s executive kept this secret.
Then the SNP’s own Treasurer was arrested – which begs the questions, who will be next ?
It seems that no audit firm in Scotland wants to touch the SNP’s accounts, so Humza found a small firm near Manchester to look at his books – a firm that’s being closely watched as its own record in regulatory compliance and tax matters has certainly raised eyebrows.
You really couldn’t make this up !
And I for one, can’t wait to find out what’s going to happen in the next episode of “Desperate Humza”.
Delegates at the Scottish Conservatives Spring Conference certainly lapped-up the many gags about the SNP’s ongoing woes.
That said, my main focus was on policy and how our Party will deliver on Scotland’s real priorities.
My key speech focused on “Rebuilding our NHS”.
Over many months, I’ve listened to NHS professionals, healthcare charities, universities, health economists and patient groups in order to develop a plan for our NHS that is far advanced than anything the SNP has ever dreamt of over the past decade.
Policies must be fit for purpose, fit for the 21st century – which means embracing technology, prioritising investment, incentivising staff and strengthening preventative healthcare.
We need to focus more on what keeps us healthy rather than using the NHS as a repair shop.
Our NHS must be modern, efficient and focused on local delivery so healthcare is accessible for all of our population.
And this will be a key focus during this series of Gulhane on Politics – policy and solutions on how to achieve a modern, efficient and local NHS for Scotland.
Brain cancer is one of the six common cancers with poor survival rates.
Along with lung cancer, liver, oesophagus, pancreas and the stomach, we call these less survivable cancers as their average five-year survival rate is just 16%.
Over 9,000 people will be diagnosed with one of these cancers in Scotland each year – a quarter of all cancer diagnoses.
And these six cancers account for 40% all cancer deaths, claiming over 7,000 lives in Scotland annually.
So can we do more to identify brain cancer and provide better treatments ?
I recently spoke about brain cancer in the Scottish Parliament.
Epidermolysis bullosa, or EB, is the name for a group of rare inherited skin disorders that cause the skin to become very fragile.
Any trauma or friction to the skin can cause painful blisters.
EB is caused by a faulty gene and is usually diagnosed in babies and young children, as the symptoms can be obvious from birth.
To understand more about caring for a child with EB and also to find out if there are new treatments on the horizon, I had a 3 way call with Andy Grist, father of Isla; dermatologist Dr Sagair Hussain and Laura Forsyth from the national EB charity, DEBRA.
www.debra.org.uk
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