Speaking after the Scottish Parliament backed a motion criticising the SNP’s poor handling of the NHS and highlighting challenges with the recruitment and retention of GPs, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that the Scottish Government needs to urgently relieve the pressure on health and social care services after the Chief Medical Officer’s annual report signalled this could be contributing to life expectancy improvement grinding to a halt.

Commenting on today’s A&E figures which show that more than 300 patients had to wait over 8 hours during the week ending 7 April, and performance against the 4 hour target of just 88.5%, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP and deputy convener of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee Alex Cole-Hamilton has today lodged fresh amendments to the Age of Criminal Responsibility Bill, calling for the Scottish Government to prohibit locking up children in police cells.

Responding to the news that a third baby has died after contracting a rare blood infection at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Commenting on the news that every pupil in Scotland is to be taught life-saving CPR skills at school, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said the Scottish Government is presiding over a system that is leaving doctors “exhausted and disenchanted”, after a freedom of information request published by the Scottish Government revealed 541 GPs and 221 dentists retired before reaching their state pension age between 2015 and 2018.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP and deputy convenor of the equalities committee Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called for the Scottish Government to support LGBT+ charity TIE (Time for Inclusive Education) after the charity announced it was “facing dissolution” due to a lack of secure core funding.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today marked the publication of the Scottish Government’s report A Fairer Scotland for Older People, by calling on ministers to speed up progress on delivering a falls and fracture prevention strategy, more than two years after Parliament backed the Liberal Democrat proposal.

Responding to new ISD statistics which reveal the number of patients stuck in hospital on delayed discharge, due to health and social care problems, was 8% higher in February than at the same time last year, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP commented: