Sickness in the NHS

ANOTHER day, another damning report on the state of our ailing NHS.

The Audit Scotland public spending watchdog has warned of a looming recruitment crisis, and accused ministers of failing to plan effectively for the future.

The Scottish Government has not ‘fully considered’ the long-term risk of retirements on the workforce.

Earlier this month, family doctors warned that patient safety is being put at risk as GP surgeries are forced to shut because of crippling staff shortages. The professional body for family doctors said an increasing number of patients also face having to queue outside surgeries ‘for the uncertain opportunity merely to register with a GP’.

Family doctors also said moves to allow nurses to treat patients in some areas where the GP shortages are most acute means patients could be put ‘at risk’.

The report reveals a workforce that is getting older – and a service that is propped up by costly agency staff.

It is not only primary care that is suffering – last month, we reported that the body of a dead patient was left on a hospital trolley in an A&E department for 11 hours.

The corpse was kept in a room in the hospital in Oban, Argyll because no porters were available to take it to a mortuary.

Ministers said at the time that they would ‘seek further details’ but parroted the familiar mantra that ‘under this Government, NHS staff numbers have risen to historically high levels’.

Low-profile Health Secretary Shona Robison must come out of hiding and acknowledge the catalogue of incompetence that has led to unprecedented strain on the NHS.

It is no longer enough for the SNP simply to recycle the same tired response to a problem that is causing misery for countless patients.

LAST week the Advertising Standards Authority announced a ban on adverts which portray only women doing jobs such as housework, or men doing DIY, deeming them to be sexist stereotypes.

This week it waved through vegan propaganda which suggests drinking cow’s milk is inhumane. Is there anyone at this ohso politically correct regulator with even an ounce of common sense?