ODDLY enough health has not been the hot topic of this coming election. The British Medical Association Scotland had to cancel hustings in Glasgow and Aberdeen due to lack of interest. I’ve not had a flurry of emails in the way I did before the referendum.

The Yes campaign claimed, on somewhat tenuous grounds, that you had to vote “Yes” to save the NHS also provoked anger back in the summer of 2014 and sparked a glorious parliamentary question once Holyrood resumed asking, given independence had been rejected, what the timetable would be for the end of the health service. To which of course came a reply indicating the NHS was quite alright and likely to remain.

Which maybe shows how much credence should be given to all the campaign literature dropping through letter boxes. Except manifestos are a melange of vote-buying promises and sensible policy. Ignoring the former, and focusing on the latter, where the NHS is concerned there is not a gaping difference between the Scottish parties.

My hunch is it would have been a breath a fresh air if the “health” section of a manifesto read: “We will work with the other parties to reach agreement on a long term plan for the NHS and social care to ensure they can cope with the growing elderly population.” (Credit to the Scottish Conservatives for a statement which is not far off that.)

How you fund that future service, however, is a more divisive subject. Scottish Labour promises: “We will use the new tax powers to ensure those at the top of society pay their fair share, including a 50p top rate of tax on the richest one per cent.” Acceptance that you cannot magically look after a lot more people in their final years without raising more money through taxes will be welcomed by some managers who face grillings when they miss treatment time targets and when they fail to balance their budgets.

But, it is not entirely fair for Scottish Labour to imply the SNP have presided over NHS cuts, as they do in the opening of their manifesto document. As we are regularly reminded by the Scottish Government spending on and staffing of the service have never been higher. It’s just keeping pace with demand, new drugs, rising salaries and pension payments, treatment time targets, utility bills etc constantly threatens to outstrip rising resources.

The SNP government did of course stick doggedly to a council tax freeze for nine years at the same time as saying community care should be improved to help prevent hospital admissions - a position they could no longer maintain. Indeed they now plan to  allow council tax rises of up to three per cent. As an Audit Scotland report highlighted, their governments have failed to provide consistent leadership on shifting the balance of care away from hospital wards to the home, to preventing crisis rather than crisis management, despite a lot of rhetoric about doing exactly that.

It is good therefore to see a focus on community care in the latest manifesto documents.

I like this from the Scottish Greens: “We want professional caring to be valued and considered an attractive career...”

Scottish Labour also have an interesting pledge to guarantee a social care package within a week. The wording and time frame of this needs to be carefully considered - we don’t want people shoved in any old care home to meet the target - but if the NHS is anything to go by some kind of goal is a way to drive energy and resources into neglected areas. Social care needs a catalyst like that.

Mental health dominates the LibDem plans, which in other areas have a tendency towards the vague. They are going to double the funding to treat young children with mental health issues - who currently face unacceptable waits to see specialists - and have mental health professionals in GP practices and A&E departments.

The SNP too promise a new ten year plan to transform mental health in Scotland backed by an extra £150m. Hopefully that plan, assuming it goes ahead, will consider the Lib Dem’s quite sensible ideas.

For what the Scottish NHS does not need is more of the last four years, with A&E waiting figures hashed to bits every week. Rather for every new MSP to consider it their responsibility to help get the Scottish health service on a sounder footing. Individuals who genuinely bring that to the chamber, get my vote.