Well Done Nicola.....

This story from the Herald ( http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2510597.0.Hospital_waiting_times_at_record_low.php )shows that the NHS in Scotland has been performing well, and delivering better than ever before.

Nicola Sturgeon claims that "This is quite an astonishing performance by NHS Scotland over the last year."

It is a good peformance Nicola, but the work has not been done "over the last year"... The groundwork for these improvements was done while Labour was in power at Holyrood. And it was done over a number of years: building new hospitals and health centres and reorganising the NHS structures and internal communications from GP surgeries through local health boards to new and improved buildings, IT systems, management structures and reporting mechanisms. And many if not all of these improvements were opposed by the SNP. So yes. A great performance from the NHS. But it takes years of real dedication and investment to achieve these improvements, not 18 months of rhetoric.

She also said "..there is more to do and all NHS boards must direct efforts to reaching a target for 18 weeks for the maximum waiting time for treatment after being referred by a GP."

Which means of course that the SNP now agrees with Labour's targets, something they derided while in power...

In the last two years we have grown used to nationalist politicians opening PPP schools, the building of which which they opposed, and taking the credit for those schools. Now Nicola wants to take credit for improvements in the NHS and targets set while she was in opposition, and which she opposed at the time...

Maybe someday the Nationalists will be able to take credit for something they have actually achieved themselves. Abolishing Student Debt? Local Income Tax? Scottish Futures Trust? 1000 extra polis?

My advice? Don't hold your breath. Just wait for the next SNP press release....