Addressing the British Medical Association's (BMA) national conference in Edinburgh, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon stated that Scotland and England are on 'different paths' and embroiled in a 'battle of ideas' about the future direction of healthcare. Ms Sturgeon said:

It is a battle between the values of the market, of internal competition and contestability on the one hand, and the values of public ownership, of cooperation and collaboration on the other.

The Health Secretary acknowledged that there is 'strong opposition in Scotland to privatisation' and reassured a packed audience that the Scottish Government was listening and acting on this core belief. Ms Sturgeon highlighted several policies to illustrate this and in so doing received a large applause: the decision to fund the new £842 million Southern General hospital in Glasgow entirely from public capital and the move away from PFI towards a Scottish Futures Trust. Yet, the biggest applause was received when the Health Secretary announced that the Government will be closing a legal loophole that would allow the private sector to move into providing primary care services. Ms Sturgeon declared that this decision was taken as the Government was concerned about the 'commercialisation of General Practise'.

 Not all delegates responded to this address positively, however. Conservative health spokesperson Mary Scanlon said 'this is all part of the SNP's independence creep' while the Lib Dems health spokesperson Jamie Stone described this approach as 'dogmatic and very short-sighted'. Mr Stone contended that the Government must 'prioritise patients over dogma.' CBI Scotland's assistant director David Lonsdale stated that a 'diversity of suppliers can make services more responsive, and drive innovation and value for money in the provision of public services.'