The Royal Alexandra Hospital is the beating heart of healthcare in Renfrewshire. If you live in Paisley, your family’s most critical moments — births, emergencies, operations, the phone call you dread — happen inside that building.
And it is struggling.
I’m not a doctor. I’m not going to pretend I have the clinical expertise to redesign the NHS. But I am a Paisley resident who has sat in that A&E waiting room, who has watched elderly neighbours wait months for procedures, and who has knocked on hundreds of doors over the past two weeks and heard the same story over and over again.
The NHS in Paisley is not working the way it should. And the people running it from Edinburgh don’t seem to be listening.
What I’m hearing on the doors
GP access is the number one health issue people raise with me. Not cancer waiting times, not hospital wards — GPs. The 8am phone lottery. Being told there are no appointments today, try again tomorrow. Being offered a telephone consultation when what you actually need is someone to look at you.
For parents with young children, it’s exhausting. For elderly residents who aren’t confident on the phone, it’s isolating. For people with mental health issues who had to summon every ounce of energy just to make the call, being told “phone back at 8am tomorrow” is devastating.
Behind the GP crisis sits a deeper problem: people who can’t see a GP end up at A&E. That puts pressure on the RAH, which is already stretched. And that pressure cascades: longer waits, exhausted staff, worse outcomes. It’s a system eating itself.
Scotland spends more — and gets less
Here’s the fact that should make every voter angry: Scotland spends more per head on health than the rest of the UK, yet on key measures — A&E waiting times, cancer treatment targets, drug death rates — outcomes are worse. This is not a funding problem. It is a management problem, a priorities problem, and an accountability problem.
We have too many health boards, too many managers, and not enough doctors, nurses, and GPs where they’re needed most. I am not anti-NHS — I believe in universal healthcare with every fibre of my being. But I also believe that when a system spends more and delivers less, someone needs to ask hard questions. The career politicians won’t, because the NHS is politically untouchable. I will, because I don’t answer to a party.
What I will fight for
More GPs in Paisley, with extended hours. The Scottish Government has committed to walk-in clinics. I will push for Paisley to be in the first wave — not the last. Walk-in access to a GP, no appointment needed, with evening and weekend hours for working families.
A value-for-money audit of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde. I want to see exactly where every pound goes. How much is spent on management versus frontline care? How do our outcomes compare to comparable health boards? Where is money being wasted? And I want the results published, in full, so the public can see them.
Ring-fenced mental health funding. Mental health services in Paisley are overwhelmed. Waiting times for talking therapies are unacceptable. I will campaign for mental health funding that cannot be raided to plug gaps elsewhere in the budget, and for a dedicated youth mental health hub in Paisley where young people can access support without a months-long referral process.
Partnerships that reduce waiting lists. Where the private or third sector can deliver faster diagnostics or treatment, the NHS should work with them. I don’t care who provides the care — I care that patients get seen. Ideology should never stand between a person and timely treatment.
Support for NHS staff. The people working in our hospitals and surgeries are not the problem — they are being failed by a system that overworks them, underpays many of them, and doesn’t listen to them. I will push for better working conditions, proper staffing levels, and a culture where frontline staff have a genuine voice in how services are run.
Why this matters now
The next Scottish Parliament will make decisions that shape NHS Scotland for a decade. New GPs don’t appear overnight — they need to be trained, recruited, and retained. Mental health services need sustained investment, not one-off announcements. And the hard questions about management and efficiency need to be asked now, before the system breaks.
Paisley deserves an MSP who will stand up in Holyrood and say what everyone in the waiting room already knows: the NHS is spending more and delivering less, and the people of this town deserve better.
I’ll be that MSP. If you let me.
William Wallace
Independent Candidate for Paisley
If you have an NHS experience — good or bad — that you want your next MSP to hear, message me on Instagram @votewallace2026 or through votewilliamwallace.com.