Ian Murray: John Swinney is an analogue first minister in the digital age

First Minister John Swinney’s “analogue” ways are to blame for the health tech divide between Scotland and England, the Scottish secretary has said.

While attending the launch of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, Ian Murray told Holyrood: “John Swinney is an analogue first minister in the digital world, and I think the concerns that the GPs have said are very much clear concerns. I have the NHS app in London, and it's fantastic for repeat prescriptions, appointments, information, downloading certificates during Covid, etc.

“The app's really powerful because it puts your own health and your own health data in your own hand and gets over all those challenges of being able to get in touch with people, talk to people and be part of the system. So we do need to get that here in Scotland. It should have happened a long time ago.”

Last month, GPs told Holyrood they looked “on with frustration” at the digital health tech divide between England and Scotland, citing tools like the NHS Scotland app, which is set to begin rollout this December, six years after England had its app fully operational.  

Swinney has since pledged to deliver a tech-powered revamp of public services to plug budget gaps, with a focus on better integration of technology across the healthcare sector.

Both Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Swinney have said artificial intelligence will “revolutionise healthcare”. However, the Scottish secretary warned it would not be a cure-all solution for the ongoing crisis in the NHS.

He said: “AI is going to be a huge part of our healthcare going forward. It's not just healthcare, of course, it's all the technologies that we'll use. AI will be a big driving force for it. So I wouldn't necessarily say it's a panacea, but it will be a major contributing factor to health inequalities and health services in the future.”

Speaking on the ongoing rebellion from Labour MPs against Starmer’s welfare reforms, Murray said the vast sums of money being spent “is out of control” and the system “broken”.

He said: “Everyone agrees it has to be fixed. Our core Labour principles are that we should be fixing it so that it looks after people who need of the most… It will make sure that the system is sustainable financially. And it's not about cutting welfare.

“The welfare bill is predicted to rise from £35bn a year to £70bn a year in this area. That rise will be restricted to £65bn under these measures. So, there's conversations happening across the government, across the party and across the country at the moment about how best to get this done. But it's not a politics issue. It's a policy issue and we do have to get it right.”

Reacting to finance secretary Shona Robison blaming Westiminister’s funding allocation for the expected cut in public sector workforce, he accused the Scottish Government of “lying to the public”.

He said: “The UK Government since last July, we've been in a year, have put in £4.9bn extra to the budget, £9.1bn extra over the next three years in the spending review.

“That's money that should be going to the frontline in our public services. They have messed up Scottish Government's finances... They have the money, they've spent it in the wrong places and the financial mismanagement they've had over the last 18 years, this is the consequences of it.”