THIS week the media have been focused on the dramas of the UK Covid Inquiry in Scotland, with message deletion and WhatsApp revelations filling the headlines.

The public are seeing first-hand the worrying culture of secrecy and decision-making which arose during the pandemic.

While I could speak on this topic for days, I want to highlight this by focusing on the issue of healthcare.

Covid had an effect on it, but some four years on there are no excuses for not supporting our incredible NHS staff.

I recently took part in a debate discussing the current state of NHS waiting times across Scotland.

I raised the ongoing suffering endured by patients awaiting key medical treatment, with some waiting two years or more.

This is not to mention the continued chaos of NHS dentistry, where available spaces are so rare and waiting times so vast that Scots are simply being forced to go private and pay.

Throughout the debate I expressed concern about the way in which the Scottish Government adopts a seemingly out of sight, out of mind approach to the challenges faced by our NHS.

I raised the issue of many key statistics like local mental health waiting times only being available via Freedom of Information requests, as the Scottish Government refuse to publish this data routinely.

Indeed, in one concerning response Public Health Scotland revealed that audiology waiting times were no longer released “following agreement with the Scottish Government”.

On the 18th of January I quizzed SNP health secretary, Michael Matheson, on reduced out-of-hours GP services within Inverclyde and the impact this would have on the Inverclyde Royal Hospital’s A&E department. Disappointingly, no further commitment to support the hospital was proposed.

This continual strategy of delay and denial when addressing the challenges faced by Scotland’s NHS is not sustainable.

In a recently published letter sent to the Tele on the 24th January, a reader made their own frustrations on the issue clear.

Whilst noting that Inverclyde’s MSP had made some efforts in raising these issues to the governing party which he a member of, he was scathingly described as having “waved the white flag” when it came to demanding serious action for GP services in Inverclyde.

Couldn’t agree more.

This culture of secrecy and cover-ups within the Scottish Government across all issues cannot be allowed to continue. Scotland deserves an open and transparent government, if the SNP cannot provide that then perhaps it is time for change.