Sturgeon forced to defend her Health Secretary over Tayside cash scandal
NICOLA Sturgeon was forced to defend her under-fire Health Secretary amid claims she’s “lost control”.
The First Minister faced fresh calls to sack Shona Robison days after it emerged NHS Tayside used public donations to fund new technology.
Sturgeon was accused of “failing” mums and their children after a report revealed gaps in mental health provision.
She was bombarded with complaints about a lack of out-of-hours GP coverage in Fife and financial concerns at NHS Highland.
And she was caught unaware by an NHS Glasgow decision to quietly close a minor injury unit at Yorkhill.
Labour leader Richard Leonard attacked Robison over the Tayside cash scandal. He said: “Here we have a health board raiding charity funds to pay the bills and that is after fiddling the accounts.
“What makes this even worse is this all happening in Tayside under the nose of the Health Secretary, who is a member of parliament for Dundee.”
Sturgeon said: “I will continue to give my support as First Minister to the job the Health Secretary is doing to strengthen the leadership of the NHS Tayside board”. Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie then highlighted research which showed pregnant women and new mums had no access to specialist mental health services in seven out of 14 health board areas.
Rennie’s onslaught was followed by the revelation from SNP backbencher Sandra White about the decision to shut the Yorkill injuries unit.
Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “This session of First Minister’s Questions underlines that Shona Robison has completely lost control of her brief.
“After a weak defence from Nicola Sturgeon over her Health Secretary’s handling of the crisis in her back yard, MSP after MSP – including SNP backbenchers – raised problems with the health service.
“Nicola Sturgeon should reflect on this session of FMQs.”