An expert working group, free from politicians, should lead a public consultation into how to fix the NHS in Scotland, Labour will say.
Party leader north of the border, Johann Lamont will invite the Scottish Parliament to task a collection of people who enjoy cross-party support with taking forward radical reform of the health service.
Under Labour’s plan, the group will look at a wide range of matters including staffing, resources targets and capacity.
All political parties would be bound by the findings and recommendations produced.
Ms Lamont will say: “All of the parties agreed during the referendum campaign that the NHS needs to be protected from privatisation, but the real threat comes from rising costs and demographic change.
“For too long party politics has got in the way of taking long-term decisions over our NHS. Time after time, vested interests have been put above patients.
“We know Scottish patients have suffered as a consequence of staff shortages, missed targets and lack of capacity.
“The only way we can move beyond this impasse is to take this issue out of the hands of politicians and put it in the care of the experts, who can work with the public to fix our NHS.
“In order that this becomes more than a talking shop, all political parties should sign up to this process and be bound by the results.
“We cannot go back to business as usual. It is clear from the referendum that people see the NHS as our most precious resource and want politicians to work together to protect our health service.
“My offer to Nicola Sturgeon and the other leaders is a way to fix our NHS by putting party politics aside and working together in the best interests of the people of Scotland.
“I fear that if we do not take this opportunity, our NHS will continue to decline and patients will pay the price.”
The NHS has increasingly become a political football over the past few months, particularly during the independence referendum campaign.
People backing a Yes vote pointed to unpopular reforms taking place in England and Wales and claimed they could impact on budgets north of the border.
However, health spending has consistently increased and all major parties are pledging to keep it rising at least in line with inflation ahead of next year’s general election.
Responsibility for the NHS is entirely devolved to the Scottish Parliament, although it relies on the block grant funding, which comes from Westminster.