'More of same will not save NHS future'

A VETERAN medical chief has warned serious changes will have to be made to Scotland's NHS if it is to be saved for future generations.

- BY ROSS THOMSON

Mike McKirdy, below, a retired consultant surgeon, said “more of the same will not be enough” to ensure Scots can continue to enjoy healthcare free at the point of need.

The former president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow was asked by Scottish Labour to examine in detail the scale of the challenges the NHS is facing.

McKirdy’s report, published today, warns that the founding principles of the health service “are becoming strained and frayed” and current trends risk “entrenching a two-tier system where access depends increasingly on ability to pay rather than clinical need”.

The report comes days after the British Medical Association (BMA) warned that the NHS is “dying before our eyes”.

Speaking ahead of the report launch Mr McKirdy said: “The NHS is a treasured institution. Its founding principle that care should be free at the point of need remains deeply valued in Scotland.

“That it should be there for us at the start of life, all the way to the end, is a unifying and equalising concept.