After projections recently showed the number of pensioners is set to increase by 28 per cent it's high time the SNP started listening to warnings about an ageing population.

The National Records of Scotland has estimated the hike over the next 25 years, which would unfortunately bring with it a rise in conditions like dementia.

Hospitals across the country are already struggling to cope with increasing numbers of patients, particularly those with diseases linked to living longer.

Shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said the NHS was already struggling as a result of the SNP’s failure to plan for an ageing population and he said the problems would only worsen as that demographic increased.

The elderly population has rocketed in the last 10 years north of the border and the growth is even larger in rural constituencies like here in Argyll and Bute.

In fact by 2039, the number of over 75s will have gone from 430,000 to a massive 800,000.

In contrast, the population of 0-15-year-olds will rise by only one per cent.

The Scottish government must act now or the problems for hospital staff and patients are only going to get worse as the years go on.

There is going to be a heavily increasing elderly population north of the border, who risk being served by an NHS which sadly won’t be remotely equipped to provide the help they need and is being centralized to near breaking point by the separatists.

Perhaps if the Scottish government dropped it's obsession with both another independence referendum and centralizing everything in sight they could concentrate on steering clear of this iceberg.

Cllr Alastair Redman - Islay