Swinney pledges new GP services and government sponsorship of skilled foreign workers

In his speech to SNP conference Mr Swinney also said the government would introduce a new sponsorship plan for skilled migrant social care staff to support the care industry.

That announcement was welcomed by the sector, but there was a warning that the "devil will be in the detail".

Opposition party leaders accused Mr Swinney of recycling old policies and claimed the SNP were "knackered" and Scots "scunnered" with the party, which has been in government for 18 years.

In a wide-ranging speech to party members, Mr Swinney said he had secured support for his plan to secure a second independence referendum, but that he also needed to lay out why he believed Scotland needed to break away from the UK.

Taking aim at Sir Keir Starmer he said the Prime Minister had stolen "Jeremy Corbyn’s clothes and now he’s dressing up as Nigel Farage".

He added: "Labour and Tories are locked in a race to the right. A race that will only be won by Nigel Farage. Fear of Farage is driving Westminster to more and more extreme views."

Laying out two key pledges for the SNP manifesto ahead of next year's Holyrood elections, he said that tackling the issues in the NHS and social care were key priorities of the Scottish people.

"There is no more important issue to all of us than our National Health Service," he said.

"We want to make it easier for you to see a GP - where and when it works for you. That is why I can announce today that this SNP Government will open a nationwide network of walk-in GP services.

"Based in your community, on your local high street, near your child's school, or close to your workplace. They will break from the status quo, they will add to the care we already value."

He added: "This is just the start. We will expand this network, but it will begin with 15 sites across Scotland. They will deliver over 1,000,000 additional GP and nurse appointments, and the first will be up and running within the year."

There was no price tag in his speech for the new services, but SNP sources said that it would cost around £30m to get the 15 centres up and running, and they would be staffed by fully qualified GPs and nurses - though the numbers would be different at each.

The announcement was given a lukewarm reception by both the BMA Scotland the Royal College of GPs Scotland.

Chair of the RCGP Scotland, Dr Chris Provan said: "GPs are as frustrated as their patients when there are difficulties in accessing a GP appointment. Promises to improve patient access must be practically meaningful and not just create a more fragmented service. 

"We want to be able to provide our patients with quality access to their GP but emphasis on speed can simply risks driving down the quality of care for patients.  

"Our concern is that this proposal does not address the major barriers to good access: critical workforce shortages and unmanageable workload."

He added: "While there has been a modest increase in whole-time equivalent GPs over the past year, Scotland still has fewer GPs today than it did a decade ago. This is the fundamental problem. 

"GPs will have serious concerns about the delivery and impact of this proposal, and we will await clarity on the implementation detail. Who will staff these new services and their extended, weekend hours? How will continuity of care be preserved, when patients benefit enormously from knowing and trusting their regular GP? Where will these services be located, when many GP practice premises are not fit for purpose and are waiting for long overdue capital investment?  

"The best way to deliver improved patient access and care would be to provide the level of investment needed to overcome the impact of cumulative years of underfunding and the implementation of a long term workforce strategy to increase the number of GPs."

And Dr Iain Morrison, chair of BMA Scotland's GPs committee, said: “Restoring funding and shifting the balance of care to general practice will provide the foundations from which we can look to a brighter future for our practices and patients – however we cannot afford to see essential resources lost into pilot schemes with limited potential.

“We know walk-in centres used elsewhere in the UK have not demonstrated good value for money – it is clear that resources must be directed into core, essential services, such as general practice, to deliver the NHS service in Scotland that people deserve and want.“

Mr Swinney also announced that the Scottish Government would become visa sponsors for people seeking to go to Scotland to work in social care, which will cost £500,000.

He said the move was needed after "Westminster shut down the visa route for social care workers" and "even withdrew job offers that had already been promised."

The result was, he said, that "thousands of care workers here in the UK entirely legally, have been left high and dry", while at the same time "care homes are crying out for staff."

He added: "I can announce today that the Scottish Government is going to step in. We will sponsor these skilled staff so they can work, pay tax and help keep Scotland's care homes running.

"Hundreds of dedicated workers, able to start work immediately. Scotland's older people must not pay the price for Westminster's prejudice.

"We will sponsor these skilled staff so they can work, pay tax and help keep Scotland's care homes running. Hundreds of dedicated workers, able to start work immediately. Scotland's older people must not pay the price for Westminster's prejudice."

Donald MacAskill, CEO of industry body Scottish Care welcomed the announcement but said the "devil will be in the detail."

He said John Swinney was "absolutely right in recognising the reality of the restrictions on recruitment which have occurred since the UK government stopped the social care visa at the end of July. He’s also right in indicating that ongoing visa restrictions are making it harder and harder for workers to remain in Scotland - many of whom have been here for beyond five years.

"The devil will be in the detail of this proposal and the extent to which it will be possible for a non-direct employer to sponsor an individual worker - however Scottish Care welcomes any positive move to make it easier for existing staff to remain and for the sector to recruit international colleagues given the demographic realities of more and more demand and not enough staff which Scotland is facing."

A spokesperson for the Home Office did rule out the Scottish Government being able to directly sponsor those currently in the UK, but added: “The social care route saw unacceptable levels of abuse and exploitation, which is why we have closed the route to new applications from abroad.

“There are thousands of sponsored care workers in the UK who are struggling to secure full time, legitimate employment.

“That’s why we are providing a funding boost of up to £3.7 billion to support social care authorities in 2025-26, strengthening care careers through a new career structure and establishing legislation for the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for adult social care.”

Responding to Mr Swinney's speech, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “John Swinney must believe that scunnered Scots button up the back if he expects them to trust his latest half-baked plan on fixing Scotland’s GP and the wider NHS crisis.

“As he delivered his recycled rhetoric, he appears to have forgotten that he’s been at the heart of this useless SNP government which has left a trail of broken promises for almost two decades.

“His latest rallying cry to break up the country will excite diehard nationalists but everyone else is urging him to ‘move on, John’.

“This desperate speech confirms why it is of critical importance that we remove the SNP from power in next May's Holyrood election.”

And Scottish Labour's deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: "John Swinney's tired, rehashed and hopeless speech shows that the knackered SNP are a spent force with nothing to offer Scots.

"He speaks as though he’s only just discovered the crisis facing our health service, when in reality the alarm bells have been ringing for years.

“But this is just another example of government by press release - with another sticking plaster promise to try and fix the mess while the crisis at the heart of the system goes ignored. 

“After 18 years in power, if John Swinney and the SNP had the ideas to fix Scotland’s NHS, they would have done it by now."

In his speech John Swinney also welcomed the release of the Israelli hostages and went on to say a "two-state solution" must be allowed to prevail, to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

He said images of hostages being released and families reunited were "deeply moving, deeply humbling" and "remind us that even in the darkest of days, hope can prevail".

But he said that nations "must all step up to secure the peace".

Mr Swinney said: "To turn hope into reality for Israel and Palestine, for the displaced, the distraught and the destitute, aid must flow."

He added: "Every life is sacred and of equal value. And every family, whether Palestinian or Israeli, deserves to live in peace and dignity."