It is worrying to read that BMA Scotland are so concerned about the funding and staffing of our NHS. Their call for Scotland’s political elite to develop a “clear plan” for our NHS is a damning indictment of almost 10 years of SNP government.

The BMA’s analysis comes just after Audit Scotland found that our NHS failed to meet 7 out of 8 of its key targets and performance in many areas is actually getting worse.

Indeed, the NHS is under so much pressure that Shona Robison MSP, the SNP’s Health Secretary, advised Scots in her Boxing Day press release about how to “self-manage their condition”. This comes weeks after the BMA said just 7% of GPs felt they  had adequate time to see patients during consultations and 91% said their workload had “negatively impacted on the quality of care given to patients”.

The SNP’s Health Secretary’s empty talk of “building blocks for transformational change”, are a jargon  heavy slap in the face for the staff working around the clock in our underfunded and understaffed NHS.

In the UK we are lucky to have the NHS, but here in Scotland we should be grateful that its staffed by professionals dedicated enough to make sure it delivers even when, as the BMA says, its “struggling to cope”.