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Extra protection for health staff SNP makes independence rally call
(about 10 hours later)
Health workers are to be given extra protection against attack when working in communities, Scotland's health secretary is to announce. Scotland's deputy first minister has rallied the SNP by urging them to become the "independence generation".
Plans to extend existing laws to cover GPs, community nurses and midwives will be set out by Nicola Sturgeon at the SNP's annual conference. Nicola Sturgeon told the party's annual conference that it had a duty to deliver, after its election win in May.
The emergency worker legislation currently protects doctors, nurses and midwives when working in hospitals. Ms Sturgeon, also Scottish health secretary, announced several reforms to the sector, including a cut in NHS waiting times.
Ms Sturgeon will also acknowledge the challenges of minority government. She also set out plans to scrap prescription charges and give greater protection to community health workers.
But she will claim that voters rejected Labour "fears and smears" in May's election. The SNP deputy leader told delegates in Aviemore that the Nationalists' election win was a watershed moment, while acknowledging the party was the biggest in the Scottish Parliament by just one seat.
Plans to strengthen the emergency worker legislation come after the stabbing of Dr Helen Jackson at a GP practice in the west end of Glasgow in August. 'Opponents reeling'
CONFERENCE AGENDA, DAY TWO 1000 BST - Conference resumes1030 - Resolutions on independence and voting at 161130 - Donaldson Lecture, Rob Brown and Stephen Maxwell1215 - President's Prize1400 - Topical and emergency resolutions1430 - Resolutions on writers' museum, broadcasting, terror laws, Scottish civil service, council bylaws to ban air guns and sexual offences against children1510 - Speech by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon1540 - Resolutions Scotland, she said, now had a government "worthy of the name", which would always speak up for the nation when it was being short-changed.
Ministers plan to bring forward moves to amend the laws before Christmas and aim to have them in force within several months. Ms Sturgeon told delegates: "We have set a pace of delivery that has left our opponents reeling. Certainly in the case of Labour.
The legislation will make it an offence to assault or obstruct people providing emergency care. "Our government has been credited with hitting the ground running after the election.
In her speech on the second day of the conference in Aviemore, Ms Sturgeon - also Scotland's deputy first minister - will reflect on the SNP's Holyrood election victory, which saw the party emerge as the largest in the Scottish Parliament by just one seat. "What we have in Labour is an opposition that hit the ground moaning and, believe me, they haven't stopped since."
She will tell delegates: "Yes we are a minority government with just a one seat advantage. Ms Sturgeon said the party's goal would always be independence, claiming the experience of an SNP government had already "given the lie to the claims of doom and despair" from political opponents.
"That means life will rarely be dull, but 3 May represented a fundamental shift in Scottish politics and the Scottish psyche. Now, as never before, we can help lead our country to independence Nicola Sturgeon
"May 2007 was an election in which the people of Scotland looked Labour straight in the eye and told them they didn't believe them anymore. "An SNP government not only works, but is seen to be working fantastically well," she said.
"They rejected the fears and the smears and opted instead for a message of hope and optimism, a vision not of what Scotland can't do, but of what we can achieve if we have the courage to be bold. "Over the next four years, as we continue to deliver on our pledges, that experience and those achievements will be the building blocks of independence."
"It was a confident act of a nation growing in self-belief." But she delivered a warning that the party had to continue to win and keep the trust of Scots.
Ms Sturgeon went on: "Now, as never before, we can help lead our country to independence.
"For this generation of Nationalists, for our generation of Nationalists, there is a real duty to deliver.
"Let us, all of us, make sure we live up to that duty. Let us make sure that we are the independence generation."
'Down payment'
Ms Sturgeon added that, to coincide with the 60th birthday of the NHS next year, ministers would take the first steps to abolish prescription charges within the lifetime of the current parliament - and called on Labour to support the plans.
She added that by March 2009, the current waiting time target of 36 weeks would be cut to a maximum of 30 weeks, as the first "down payment" in the government's target of an 18-week waiting time guarantee by the end of 2011.
Legislation protecting doctors, nurses and midwives when working in hospitals will also be extended to cover GPs, community nurses and midwives.
Ministers plan to bring forward moves to amend the laws - which make it an offence to assault or obstruct people providing emergency care - before Christmas and aim to have them in force within several months.