SNP MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Alasdair Allan, has joined party colleagues in calling for the Chancellor to invest at least an additional £16 billion a year in the NHS at the UK budget next week - as new research shows the UK lags behind our European neighbours in healthcare staffing.
The analysis by the House of Commons Library using OECD data, commissioned by the SNP and published today, shows that the UK has fewer doctors and nurses per head than our European neighbours - and has done for every single year of the 21st century.
At the latest count, the UK as a whole had fewer than 9 practising nurses per 1000 population. In contrast, every other country in north west Europe had more nurses per head, with Finland and Switzerland having more than double the number of nurses per head than the UK, at 19 per 1000 population.
Across the UK, the analysis shows the Scottish Government has invested in more doctors and nurses than any other country.
As of March 2024, the SNP government has delivered over forty per cent (42%) more nurses per head of population than the UK government in England. In Scotland there are around 12 nurses per 1000 people, compared to just 7 per 1000 in England and 8 per 1000 in Wales. This means that while there is one nurse for every 85 people in Scotland, there is just one nurse per 145 people in England.
Separate research, published by the SNP last week, found the UK Government spends less on healthcare per person than almost every other country in north west Europe. On average, our European neighbours spent £5,654 per person per year on healthcare between 2000 and 2023, compared to just £4,609 for the UK. That is a gap of more than a thousand pounds (£1,045) of healthcare spending per person every year.
A funding boost of £16 billion, which the SNP are calling on the Chancellor to include in next week’s UK Budget, would deliver an additional £1.6 billion in Barnett consequentials to spend on healthcare in Scotland. This additional funding would allow the Scottish Government to continue its progress in closing the healthcare gap with our European neighbours.
Commenting, Alasdair Allan MSP said:
"The UK Government is continuing to damage the NHS in Scotland, and every part of the UK, by imposing austerity cuts and chronically underfunding and understaffing public healthcare. While healthcare is a devolved issue, the amount of funding the Scottish Government receives is of course directly proportional to how much the UK Government decides to spend. If there are cuts in England, there are cuts to our budget here, and we unfortunately get no say in that.
"It's essential the Labour government increases NHS funding by at least an additional £16 billion a year at the UK budget, if it is to begin to reverse the damage inflicted by years of Tory austerity cuts and the impact of Brexit on healthcare recruitment.
"Leaked reports suggest that the NHS could get as little as £8 billion at the UK budget next week – this would be nowhere near enough, and would show the Labour Party isn't serious about delivering the change needed to properly support our health service.
"The NHS needs more investment if it is to deliver the best possible healthcare, particularly for rural and island communities.
"The SNP has done everything we can to shield NHS Scotland from Westminster cuts over the past decade and a half, but the new Labour government’s plan to slash billions of pounds from public services will mean less money available for healthcare and other essential priorities. As Health Secretary Wes Streeting said earlier this year - all roads lead back to Westminster. It's vital the Chancellor delivers investment now."
