Hospital ward campaigner: I was told a lie
First Minister slated over closure of children’s ward
A FURIOUS campaigner yesterday accused Nicola Sturgeon of lying to him about the closure of a children’s ward.
During a TV debate in May 2016, Gordon Clark asked the First Minister about Ward 15 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
She told him: “There are no proposals to close that particular ward.”
But last week, Health Secretary Shona Robison said Ward 15 was to shut.
Gordon, 57, who works with autistic children, said: “The First Minister lied to me. I knew (the closure) was on the cards. That’s why I asked the question. To say they didn’t know anything about it is total nonsense.”
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard called on Sturgeon to apologise.
He said: “This is about her integrity. People feel betrayed, with good reason.”
Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie added: “Doctors may have advised her to close the ward but they did not force her to lie in that election TV debate.”
Sturgeon said: “There was. at the time of that debate, no proposal on the ward. There had been no clinical evidence presented. That changed in the months that followed.
“I am not prepared to apologise for listening to the doctors who know best about how to treat sick children in this country.”
Robison said there was “overwhelming clinical support” for closing Ward 15 and moving services to Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Children.