Health Secretary’s inaction “scarring” NHS staff
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has warned today that sustained pressure on A&E departments across Scotland will have a “scarring” effect, demoralising a whole generation of qualified professionals to the extent that many are likely to leave the service.
Read more1 in 20 patients in pain wait a year for treatment
Scottish Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today urged "compassion and urgent treatment for patients in pain" as new figures revealed that 1 in 20 patients referred for chronic pain have to wait over a year for treatment.
Read moreSturgeon's conference speech is either cynical or paranoid
Responding to Nicola Sturgeon's speech to SNP conference and her claims that the UK is seeking to “damage” Scotland and “by making us poorer, they’ll say we can’t afford to be independent”, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Read moreHealth Secretary out of his depth on Covid ID cards
Responding to the Health Secretary's interview on Good Morning Scotland in which he conceded that it was not practical to check the vaccine passports of all attendees at football matches, still couldn't say how the government was defining a nightclub and unsuccessfully attempted to explain away comments from Professor Stephen Reicher who said that England was right to ditch Covid ID plans, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Read moreCole-Hamilton responds to UK Government ditching Covid ID cards
Responding to confirmation from Sajid Javid that vaccine passports for entering events and venues will not now be introduced in England, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Read more230,000 operations lost but SNP choose to focus on independence
As the SNP devote their time to pushing independence at their annual conference, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has revealed new analysis showing that in the seventeen months since the pandemic began more than 230,000 operations were cancelled and called on the SNP to demonstrate that they care about the nation's health as much as they care about the nation's borders.
Read moreScottish Liberal Democrats vote no to Covid IDs
Speaking as the SNP and Scottish Greens vote to introduce Covid ID cards in Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton condemned the decision and confirmed that his party will continue to campaign for their abolition.
Read moreCole-Hamilton presses the government for urgent measures to tackle violence against women
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today repeated his party's calls to establish a commission to tackle violence against women and called for this to deliver recommendations to parliament within a year.
Read moreLong Covid Group Comes Together
A new cross-party group on Long Covid met for the first time yesterday evening. Edinburgh Western MSP and Leader of Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton, Jackie Baillie MSP and Sanesh Gulhane MSP co-founded the group. It is estimated that Long Covid affects as many as 100 thousand Scots, including thousands of children.
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Cole-Hamilton urges emergency recruitment drive to fix broken test and protect system
Responding to today’s Scottish Parliament update from the First Minister, Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has urged an emergency recruitment drive to fix the broken Test and Protect system.
Read moreScotland needs new hope, not a new white paper
Responding to the publication of the Programme for Government 2021-22, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton MSP said:
Read moreIronclad plan needed to eradicate mental health waits
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today said the Scottish Government must show it has “an ironclad plan” to bring down mental health waits after new statistics showed 2,138 children waiting over a year for mental health treatment.
Read moreAuditor General highlights decade of SNP overpromising and under-delivering
Commenting in response to a blog published by Audit Scotland, where the Auditor General Stephen Boyle reports a “mismatch” in SNP policy delivery, explaining that “audit work consistently shows a major implementation gap between policy ambitions and delivery on the ground”, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole- Hamilton MSP said:
Read moreSNP/Green Coalition threatens local authorities
Commenting in advance of the ministerial takeover of social care being included in the Programme for Government, with COSLA questioning why it looks set to seize powers in other areas too, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:
Read moreWhistle-blower accounts show contact tracing “meltdown”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today called for an “emergency recruitment drive” for contact tracers, as whistle-blower reports reveal that Test and Protect are being forced to close cases before contact has been made because the service is under such strain.
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