John Swinney pledges to tackle GP appointment lottery

John Swinney says the NHS will be “at the heart” of his government’s legislative plans for the final year of the Scottish Parliament’s current term.

The first minister has brought forward the annual programme for government, which he is unveiling 12 months ahead of the Holyrood election in May 2026.

In his speech on Tuesday, Swinney will pledge to increase capacity in the health service to tackle what he called the 08:00 “lottery” for making GP appointments.

Labour has accused the SNP of “broken promises” while the Tories say ministers must move away from “fringe obsessions”.

The programme for government sets out the policy and legislative goals for the next parliamentary year.

It is usually published after the summer recess, but Swinney moved the date this year to “enable a full year to delivery” before the Holyrood election.

Ahead of Tuesday’s speech, he visited Newfield Medical Group in Dundee.

The first minister said his programme for government would “take serious action to put the NHS on track to meet the needs of the public”.

“While many people’s experience of their GP is excellent, for many others there is deep frustration over what has been described as the 8am lottery to make appointments,” he said.

“So we will act to reduce pressure and increase capacity in the system, to make it easier for people to get the care they need, when they need it.”

Swinney said child poverty and cost of living pressures were also among his priorities.

It comes after figures released in March showed the Scottish government had missed its legal targets for reducing child poverty.

“We’re seeing falling levels of child poverty, we are moving in the right direction,” he said.

“Some of the measures we have funded, for example the Scottish Child Payment or increased investmnent in housing services, or wraparound care for early learning and childcare

“All these measures are designed to help us achieve that journey.”

The Scottish Conservatives said Swinney’s speech must signal a move away from SNP “fringe obsessions” and focus on the priorities of “mainstream Scotland”.

“That means dropping the Nationalists’ fringe obsession with gender self-ID once and for all, said deputy leader Rachael Hamilton.

She said Swinney should focus on repairing roads, ending classroom violence, cutting NHS waiting times and reducing taxes.

Scottish Labour said Scotland would not forget John Swinney’s “record of failure”.

Leader Anas Sarwar said “From health to education to the environment, this SNP government’s record is defined by broken promises.

“Like clockwork, headline-grabbing plans are made and abandoned, and ambitious targets are set and missed.”

Last week the Scottish government said it would not bring forward planned legislation to criminalise misogyny before next year’s election.

Ministers said there was not enough time to draw up a law which reflects the recent Supreme Court judgement on the definition of a woman, and instead plan to amend existing hate crime legislation to provide protections on the basis of sex.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie expressed disappointment that these plans had been dropped, alongside proposals to ban so-called conversion therapy.

Harvie said: “John Swinney needs to be ambitious and ensure that Scotland is taking meaningful action to cut child poverty and tackle the climate emergency.

“That means putting people and planet at the core of his plans.”