Ending a tax on ill-health

The Scottish Government has taken great strides since 2007 towards bringing an end to policies that seek to tax ill-health. Hospital car parking charges have been abolished at all NHS hospitals, except at the three hospitals that were built under PFI schemes and have contracts for car parking services that would be hugely expensive to buy out. The cost of visiting hospital, whether for patients or relatives, could be prohibitively expensive before this step was taken and ran counter to the principle of having an NHS that is free at the point of delivery.

In addition to abolishing these parking charges, we have also seen year on year reductions of prescription charges with the latest reduction recently having been placed before the Scottish Parliament for approval. This move will reduce prescription charges from £4 to £3, reduce four month pre-payment certificates from £13 to £10 and reduce twelve month certificates from £38 to £28.

This reduction is the final step before the planned abolition of prescription charges is delivered next year, as was promised in our election manifesto. The cost for many patients, particularly those with chronic conditions that require medication throughout a patient’s lifetime, is one that can be extremely challenging for them to meet and one that does not sit well with the principles behind the National Health Service.

Ill-health or injury is something that is not a choice, but rather a circumstance that is beyond an individual’s control. It cannot be right to then financially penalise people who find themselves in these circumstances if we wish to remain true to the values of the NHS.

There is no fundamental difference between believing that hospital treatment should be free at the point of need and believing that prescription drugs also should be. This is a core part of the universal health care which the NHS provides and I am proud to be part of a Government that is reaffirming those principles.

Communities pulling together

There are few people in Banff & Buchan that have not been affected by the current winter conditions, the worst we have seen in thirty years. With schools having closed, houses snowed in and further bad weather forecast, it is a difficult time for many people. Yet conditions like these are also a time when communities pull together and look out for their more vulnerable members.

For elderly people in particular, the cold weather and ice underfoot makes this time of year extremely difficult and it is a time when they value the help and assistance of their neighbours more than ever. Whether it is clearing an elderly neighbour’s path or something as simple as making sure that their heating is on or that pre-payment cards are topped up, it is actions like these that make our communities places we can be proud to live in.

Keeping warm in these low temperatures is vital and there is help available for elderly and vulnerable people in particular to save money on their heating and to make their homes warmer. A local advisor from the Energy Savings Trust can be contacted on 0800 512 012 who will be able to advise you on what assistance is available to you through the Energy Assistance Package, from advice on keeping your bills low to making funds available for installing a new boiler or insulation depending on your circumstances.

It is a free service which anyone can contact to receive advice from and I thoroughly encourage people to use it if they have not done so already.

Looking back and looking forwards

As we draw to the end of 2009, it seems an appropriate time to look back over the year that is drawing to a close and take stock of what it has meant for people in Banff & Buchan. For many, it has been a difficult twelve months as the recession has taken hold and hit hard working families in the pocket.

Yet the year has not been one characterised by nothing but economic gloom. There have been real successes and achievements in Banff & Buchan and across Scotland. The year of Homecoming helped provide a vital boost to the tourism industry around the country at a time when it was globally suffering. There were over 1.5 million visits to tourist attractions in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and with highlights such as the Portsoy traditional boat festival, a significant number will have come to Banff & Buchan. The year of Homecoming can only be considered a success and has sheltered the tourist industry from the worst effects of the downturn hitting the sector in other countries.

Beyond the tourist sector, the Scottish Government has continued to take action to support local residents and businesses through these difficult times. Council tax was again frozen, putting money back into people’s pockets at this difficult time, while the small business bonus has seen rates abolished or greatly reduced for many companies in Banff & Buchan. For many people, these measures have made all the difference to their ability to survive financially and have been warmly welcomed by those who have benefited. The year has also seen a significant investment in council housing, ending the disgraceful lack of construction that was the hallmark of the previous administration, and helping to support the building industry, one of the hardest hit sectors of the downturn.

There have been other notable achievements too, such as with policing. There are now more police officers in the Grampian force than there has ever been before, a direct result of the SNP’s election commitment to put an extra 1,000 bobbies on the beat, while recorded crime in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level in almost 30 years. Making our communities safer is of enormous importance to people and the Scottish Government’s record in this area is something to be proud of.

There has also been significant progress to healthcare in the region, with NHS Grampian recently publishing figures showing that 96.4% of cancer patients were treated within the 62 day target, compared to 87.2% at the time of the election. Improvements to accessing dentists have also continued, with the construction of the new Aberdeen Dental School certain to have a significant impact throughout the North East.

Yet as well as looking back at some of the year’s achievements, it is important that we recognise the challenges that are to come. The Scottish Government’s budget will be slashed by £814 million next year under Treasury plans, something that will make the coming year an extremely difficult one. At a time when other countries have continued their stimulus packages to drive their economies towards recovery, Gordon Brown’s decision to do the opposite is deeply disappointing.

Despite this, however, I am confident that the Scottish Government will continue to do all that is in our power to speed our economic recovery and to help people in Banff & Buchan and across Scotland.

With that it is only left to me to hope that everyone in Banff & Buchan had an enjoyable Christmas and to wish them a very happy new year.