Public health minister and Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick quits

SCOTTISH public health minister Joe FitzPatrick has quit his post after a backlash over his handling of the country’s drugs crisis.

The Dundee West MSP agreed to leave the post after discussions with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday.

It comes after opposition parties pushed for a no-confidence vote at Holyrood.

In a statement he said: “I spoke with the first minster and agreed that I should leave government.

“It has been the privilege of my life to serve in the Scottish Government and, during that time, the most heart-breaking and difficult problems I have faced as public health minister is the harms and deaths caused by drug use.

“I have worked with families who have felt the burden and weight of grief from drug use.

“I want to thank them for their candour and the amazing efforts they make to try to make our country better and safer for all.

“As the minister responsible for this area I, ultimately, take my responsibility.

“It is clear that my presence as a minister will become a distraction, when we should be focused on achieving the change we need to save lives.

“There is nothing I can express that will ease the loss that so many families have felt due to a death from drugs use.

“I can only say how sorry I am for their loss, and that hearing the experiences of the families and the recovery communities will never leave me.”

Ms Sturgeon said: “I thank Joe for his work as a minister and the service he has given to government over the last eight years, firstly as minister for parliamentary business and then as minister for public health.

“While the time has now come to make a change in the public health brief, no one should doubt Joe’s hard work, dedication and sincerity.

“He will continue to champion the interests of his constituents at Holyrood, and I wish him well in the future.”

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “After 13 years of failure, no one can have any confidence in Nicola Sturgeon’s disastrous drugs strategy and the resignation of her public health minister changes nothing.

“If this was about the shocking number of drug related deaths this year, he would have gone on the day the numbers were released.

“The families of the 1,264 people who lost their lives in the last year to drugs will take little comfort in his resignation.

“They are more interested in how we have reached this shameful position after more than 13 years of the SNP being in power, with Nicola Sturgeon in charge of health for much of that.

“We urged the first minister to agree to our proposed £20 million funding for rehabilitation but got no commitment.

“All the focus must be on the urgent public health crisis of Scotland’s drugs deaths epidemic so we can finally start to reverse the tragic number of lives being lost from drugs.”

See also “Tayside: 93,000 given drugs for mental health” on page 9.