SCOTLAND’S Health Secretary said she will never be able to fully express her sorrow for the pain of the Covid pandemic which has brought “human devastation”.

Jeane Freeman addressed the SNP conference yesterday to move the first motion on NHS, social care and lifelong learning after the pandemic, which was backed “overwhelmingly” by members. The resolution – one of six themes on the conference agenda – covered topics including the creation of a national care system, action to tackle inequalities and reaffirming a commitment to free higher education.

She told members: “We have lost over 5000 of our fellow citizens to this terrible virus. It has caused nothing less than human devastation in our country and I don’t think I will ever be able to fully express my sorrow for the pain it has brought.”

The MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon – who is stepping down from Holyrood next year – said Covid-19 has underlined how vital our public services are to the wellbeing of everyone.

She added: “We have always cherished our NHS, there for us when we need it – a guarantee that should our health be in jeopardy, someone will come along and help.

“This year, as never before, that has shown us how crucial it is to cherish that service and every single person who dedicates their life to it.”

Freeman highlighted that Scotland is set to become the first country in the UK to incorporate the UN Convention on the Right of the Child into domestic law, as far as possible under devolved powers.

She pledged the convention will be fully incorporated when Scotland achieves independence.

“That for me is a fundamental difference between devolution and independence,” she added. “With devolution so much of our job is to mop up the damage of a government we never voted for. With devolution we are told what powers we can have.

“With independence we can choose the powers we share. Our choices as a nation to make our own future to shape.”

Meanwhile health professionals warned of the risk of “massive levels of burnout” in the aftermath of the Covid crisis at a fringe event at the conference, which Freeman did not attend due to technical difficulties.

Dr Lewis Morrison, the chair of the British Medical Association in Scotland, said public understanding of the impact the virus was having on health services was starting to “fray at the edges now”.

He said: “We’re entering a period now where people’s frustrations are starting to show a wee bit more and health and social care are on the frontline of the expression of those frustrations when people can’t get the health care they need as quickly as they normally would.”

To help the health service recover, he argued there must be a “proper plan for recruitment and retention” after the pandemic.

He said: “There has to be a conversation about what is it we want the NHS to do with the people that we have got to do it, which lets those professionals do it in a sustainable way.

“Because I think the real risk as we come out of this pandemic are massive levels of burnouts and the risk of that, and the very fragile health, mental health, of the healthcare workforce is going to need a lot of care over the next couple of years.”

Theresa Fyffe, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Scotland, said there had been a “sharp rise in the number of nursing staff considering quitting the profession sadly”.

She said: “We had a very short period between the first wave and the second wave, we have a very tired set of staff who had little time for recovery.

“They’ve hit the second wave feeling they have got to find the energy and the ability to deal with all of what is happening. There is not now just the pandemic, it has been flu vaccinations, other health and care provision.”

Meanwhile Clare Morrison, the Scottish director of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said a survey of pharmacists had found almost three quarters reporting that work was “negatively impacting on their mental health and wellbeing”.

She cited problems such as “workload, inadequate staffing, long working hours, lack of breaks, a poor work-life balance, a sense of isolation” as being the reasons for this.

She added a third were considering leaving their job, saying: “We’ve got 89% at risk of burnout at the moment, compared to 80% last year, so there is no doubt Covid is having an impact on pharmacists right now.”