Prognosis not good for Health Secretary

THE news that NHS Tayside is to launch an independent investigation into the case of David ramsay, 50, who took his own life in 2016 after twice being sent home from Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital, is welcome.

The tired mantra of ‘lessons will be learned’ is the standard response from officialdom but finding out what went wrong in Mr ramsay’s case most certainly matters. No other family should face similar misery.

And how dispiriting that sections of Nationalist support rounded on Mr ramsay’s family for raising the issues around his death.

Health Secretary Shona robison was moved to address the attacks, saying the family ‘had every right to raise their concerns and shouldn’t be criticised for doing so. The voices of patients and their families are hugely important in our health service’.

While Miss robison is right about that, it cannot be forgotten that NHS Tayside is one of the health boards which dipped in to charity funds to cover day-to-day spending.

Miss robison is an MSP for a Tayside constituency and it is deeply embarrassing for her that this financial scandal occurred in her own back yard.

From the crisis in GP coverage to A&e waiting times, the NHS in Scotland is creaking at the seams.

Mental health is just one of so many areas in the NHS that is struggling to balance resources and demand.

Miss robison stood accused this week of moving the goal posts on cancer waiting times.

With bad news emerging day after day from her health department, the pressure for a no-confidence vote on the First Minister’s personal friend is surely now inexorable.