With the next Scottish Parliament election drawing near, the Council of Deans of Health has reviewed the manifestos of the six major political parties in Scotland: Reform UK, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Green Party, Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP). In this blog, Megan Isherwood, Senior Policy Officer, examines areas of convergence and divergence across key policy themes, with a particular focus on those most relevant to our member institutions and the wider healthcare education sector. Despite ideological differences across the parties, there is consensus on several headline priorities, pointing to a shared recognition of the challenges facing Scotland’s health and education systems.
Health
Health is a defining issue in Scottish politics, with broad alignment across parties on three core priorities including improving access to care, supporting the NHS workforce and modernising how the NHS operates. Differences emerge, however, in the approaches proposed to deliver change, particularly in relation to waiting lists, the organisation and efficiency of services, and workforce reform.
Long NHS waiting times are a shared concern across the parties. Scottish Labour pledges to cut A&E waits to under four hours, speed up ambulance response times, and tackle delayed discharge through 300 additional care home step‑down beds and 1,000 new care‑at‑home packages.
The SNP has committed to ensuring no patient waits more than 26 weeks for treatment by the end of the parliamentary term, underpinned by at least £200 million per year to expand elective capacity, alongside a National Hospital Flow Plan to ease A&E pressures and delayed discharge. The Scottish Conservatives emphasise increasing the NHS’s capacity to carry out procedures, while the Scottish Liberal Democrats prioritise faster GP access, pledging 900 additional local staff to boost early diagnosis and reduce waiting times. The Scottish Green Party also proposes measures to boost GP recruitment and highlights targeted investment, including reducing gynaecology waiting lists through workforce planning. Reform UK frames the issue around productivity, advocating creative solutions to delayed discharge and new pathways of care.
Digitisation is most strongly emphasised by the Scottish Conservatives, who frame digital reform as a key lever for improving NHS efficiency and patient experience. Their proposals include delivering a ‘One NHS’ IT platform to enable the sharing of patient information, fast tracking the rollout of a single national NHS app, and expanding the use of AI across the NHS. To support efficiency, the Scottish Conservatives argue that consolidating NHS back‑office functions could free up resources for frontline care and Scottish Labour and Reform UK similarly stress reducing waste and bureaucracy.
Rural and island healthcare also features prominently. The Liberal Democrats propose a ‘Fair Deal for Rural Healthcare’, while the SNP supports targeted incentives to recruit and retain staff in hard‑to‑fill areas.
Workforce sustainability underpins almost every proposal. Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats both advocate a 10‑year workforce plan linking university places to jobs and career progression opportunities, while the Conservatives commit to developing a new workforce plan in consultation with staff and patients. The SNP proposes an NHS job guarantee for nursing, midwifery and allied health graduates, alongside improved pay and training pathways. The Scottish Green Party focus on safe staffing, supporting nurse‑to‑patient ratios, nationwide recruitment campaigns, and increased bursaries for student nurses and allied health professionals. Reform UK takes a different approach, targeting staff retention through tax changes designed to increase take‑home pay.
Education and research
There is broad cross-party support for maintaining free university tuition for Scottish-domiciled students, with Scottish Labour, the SNP, and the Scottish Green Party all committed to protecting the current model. Beyond tuition, parties diverge on how best to support students with living costs and access to postgraduate study. The SNP has proposed a £300,000 Islands Scholarship to support postgraduate study for students from island communities, while the Liberal Democrats focus on cost-of-living pressures, calling for enhanced bursaries, grants, special support loans and greater flexibility in student borrowing through universities, colleges and Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). The Scottish Green Party similarly emphasis student hardship support, including a national hardship fund and extending bursaries and loan payments across the summer period.
Apprenticeships and skills are another shared priority, though with different delivery mechanisms. Scottish Labour pledges to guarantee an apprenticeship place for every qualified applicant in key industries, supported by 9,000 new places and a UCAS-style clearing system to help young people find alternatives within their chosen industry. The Scottish Conservatives propose using Apprenticeship Levy funding raised in Scotland to create a new ring‑fenced, demand‑led fund for apprenticeships. Reform UK places the strongest emphasis on vocational pathways, advocating a shift away from academic routes towards apprenticeships and technical education closely aligned with labour market needs.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
The parties’ approaches to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) differ across a number of areas. The Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Green Party all commit to improving women’s health, either through promoting equal treatment within the health system, tackling medical misogyny, or funding research into women’s health inequalities. However, the Scottish Conservatives also propose banning public sector roles dedicated solely to advancing EDI. Reform UK takes a particular stance in this area, calling for university courses to demonstrate clear value for money and to be assessed against traditional academic metrics rather than EDI or sustainability criteria.
Next steps
The Council has written to each of the major political parties, setting out our key priorities. We look forward to engaging constructively with any government formed at Holyrood after the election. Whatever the political make-up of the Scottish Parliament, it is essential that a Scottish Government takes a truly joined-up approach to health and education policy, recognising the central role of healthcare higher education in sustaining the NHS workforce.
We stand ready to work with all parties to ensure that the voice of our members is heard and that strategic decisions are informed by evidence, collaboration, and a shared commitment to the health and wellbeing of people across Scotland.
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