Scotland's struggling health services cannot improve without tax increases for higher earners, Humza Yousaf has said as he claimed emergency departments will start to recover after winter.
Health and social care services will be allocated £19 billion in the 2023/24 budget to tackle the pressures facing the NHS. It is the highest ever budget settlement for the sector, with an extra £1 billion being made available to help fund increased cash for health boards and pay deals.
The increase is being funded by an increase in tax for more than half a million Scots on higher tax rates. Earners making more than £43,662 will be affected, with higher and top rates of income tax increasing by 1p to 42p and 47p respectively.
The SNP health secretary said the tax rises were essential to support the NHS as it recovers from its most "challenging" period. And he said he believed higher earners would "understand" the role they had to play to improve the NHS.
He said: "What they want to see is a commitment from the government to continue to invest in that health service, to improve. We cannot improve the health service without that additional funding and that's why it's so important."
The additional funding, he said, would help the Scottish Government make inroads in surgery and mental health backlogs.
Yousaf added: "I expect to see improvements in A&E performance as we get past the winter and the worst of it. I expect to see improvements right across the system and this additional investment will help with that."
Latest figures from Public Health Scotland showed 63.4 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour target time in the week up to December 4 - despite the 95 per cent target set by ministers.
Cancer treatment targets were at their lowest ever recorded percentage of patients starting treatment within the 62-day target, with the standard falling to 74.7 per cent.
The 31-day target of 95 per cent for the most urgent patients was narrowly missed, at 94.3 per cent. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, however, said more patients than ever were being treated for cancer.
Yousaf said on Friday that he understood the "anxieties" facing people around increased taxes despite a struggling health service.
He added: "I do understand those anxieties, but I hope people will understand that we're not raising taxes willy-nilly. It has to be done to invest, particularly our NHS and social care, which will get a £1 billion boost in the next financial year."
Addressing cancer performance times, Yousaf said treating people with the disease will be the "priority" amid increased funding.
"Our focus will always be on those that need the most urgent care, that most urgent treatment and support, so hopefully when it comes to cancer people will see through the investment that we're making cancer the top priority, making sure that those with cancer or suspected cancer are getting the diagnosis first and foremost that they need rapidly and then of course getting the aftercare they need thereafter," he said.
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