by Dr Steve McCabe
At some point in their lives anyone born and raised in Scotland has used the NHS in Scotland. The NHS in Scotland is funded each year to the tune of almost £13billion and consumes about 43% of the Scottish Government’s total budget. That money pays for over 140,000 whole-time equivalent staff and delivers 1.4 million hospital procedures and 17 million GP appointments a year – the equivalent of between 3 and 4 GP appointments for every woman, man and child living in Scotland.