SNP conference: Sturgeon makes NHS treatment centres pledge
SNP conference 2015: Leader Sturgeon says 'judge us on our record'
(about 2 hours later)
Nicola Sturgeon is to pledge to build a new £200m network of NHS treatment centres for planned operations if the SNP wins next May's Holyrood elections.
Voters at next May's Holyrood election should judge the SNP on its record in government, party leader Nicola Sturgeon has told her conference.
She will announce the new policy in her leader's address to the SNP conference.
She also reiterated that a second independence referendum would only come when the time was right.
Ms Sturgeon will also accuse Prime Minister David Cameron of playing "fast and loose" with the UK's membership of the EU.
The SNP has been in power north of the border since 2007.
And she will say the SNP will "campaign positively" to keep both Scotland and the UK in the EU.
Ms Sturgeon insisted that over the past nine years her party had laid "strong foundations" including free university education and modern apprenticeships.
With a growing elderly population, the Scottish NHS faces growing demand for hip and knee replacements and cataract operations.
The MSP said: "The other parties say they want to fight the election on our record.
Ms Sturgeon, who is Scotland's first minister, believes the service will be "overwhelmed by the demand" unless there is new capacity.
"Well, I say, 'good' - because so do I.
SNP Conference 2015
"Our record in government is one of delivery and achievement.
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"It's not perfect - of course it's not - the recession and Westminster austerity have created a financial climate much tougher than anything we could have contemplated back in 2007.
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"But, make no mistake, it is a record I am proud of.
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"And you should be proud of it too."
Brian Taylor: Some disquiet, but SNP still decidedly united
ANALYSIS
SNP conference: Passion and pragmatism
By Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland political editor
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The speech had only a minimal reference to indyref2. That was dealt with in Nicola Sturgeon's opening remarks on Thursday. The focus now, and for the period up to the elections in May, will be on existing powers.
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That is driven by strategy. But it is also motivated by necessity. Yes, independence remains of fundamental importance - the fault line in Scottish politics.
She will commit a future SNP government to extending the Golden Jubilee hospital in Clydebank and building new facilities at hospitals in Livingston, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness and Aberdeen.
But fretful families want to hear competing offers from the various parties on the NHS, education and the economy.
The treatment centres would open within five years and increase the number of planned operations by up to 50% by 2025.
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She will tell delegates at the conference in Aberdeen that the treatment centre at the Golden Jubilee has been a "huge success", with staff there "helping to take pressure off our emergency hospitals".
The first minister will announce: "We now intend to extend that model. Over the next parliament we will invest £200m to create a new network of elective treatment centres.
"We will extend the Golden Jubilee and develop new centres at St John's in Livingston, at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, at Ninewells in Dundee, at Raigmore in Inverness and here in this city at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary."
Her speech comes at the end of the SNP's biggest ever conference, which Ms Sturgeon hopes to use as a launch pad for her party's bid to win a historic third term in office in next year's Scottish Parliament vote.
The election campaign will be her first as first minister, prompting Ms Sturgeon to ask voters to put their trust in her.
She will say: "Over these next few months, as we prepare to seek re-election, I won't pretend that we are perfect. Or that I am perfect.
"But I will promise this. We will always strive to be the best we can be. And we will serve this country with imagination, courage, humility and always to the very best of our abilities."
Ms Sturgeon will also say the prime minister is showing a "failure of leadership" by "pandering to eurosceptics" as she attempts to drive home her party's pro-EU message.
And she will use her address to make the case against UK military intervention in Syria, arguing instead that "what is needed is not more bombing but a renewed and intensive diplomatic initiative led by the UN".
And she will warn that military action such as airstrikes risks "simply adding to the already unimaginable human suffering".
