HUMZA ‘BURYING HEAD IN THE SAND’ OVER NHS CRISIS
Axed on Yousaf’s watch, 8 meetings of ‘remobilisation’ group for ailing health service
HUMZA Yousaf has been accused of burying his head in the sand amid a ‘full-blown crisis’ in Scotland’s NHS after a series of key meetings were cancelled.
The Health Secretary faces claims he scrapped an NHS ‘remobilisation’ group as pressures facing the country’s health service escalated.
The SNP had planned to kick-start the health service with a series of pledges to recruit more staff and provide more investment. Minutes from one meeting, held in March, reveal officials had warned of ‘high levels of uncertainty’, including capacity and staffing issues.
However, documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) reveal eight meetings of the remobilisation group, due to take place between June and December, have been cancelled since the appointment of Mr Yousaf as Health Secretary.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie branded the decision ‘unthinkably reckless’. Miss Baillie said: ‘It is astounding the Government would scrap this key group when our NHS is teetering on the brink of a full-blown crisis.’
The revelation comes after it emerged Scotland has seen its worst ever A&E waiting times. Almost a third of patients were forced to wait more than four hours for treatment in the first week of this month, with almost 600 waiting more than 12 hours.
The NHS is currently bracing itself for a potential crisis as Covid and seasonal flu fuel a huge spike in demand.
Health chiefs have already warned Scots only to attend A&E if they are in a life-threatening condition, while military personnel have been drafted in to drive ambulances. Unregistered nurses have also been employed as support workers.
Now a series of FOIs obtained by Scottish Labour reveal health officials warned the Government about the mounting pressure at the start of the year.
In March, then health secretary Jeane Freeman insisted discussions would take place on workforce planning. However, it has emerged these talks did not take place pre-election – and have not since due to the failure of ministers to hold a meeting of the NHS remobilisation group.
Miss Baillie has now demanded SNP ministers re-establish the group. She said: ‘The SNP insist NHS remobilisation is a priority – but this unthinkably reckless move shows that isn’t the case.
‘The group was sounding the alarm on mounting pressure months ago but Humza Yousaf decided to bury his head in the sand until things reached crisis point. As our NHS falls deeper into chaos it’s clear that responsibility lies squarely with the SNP. Instead of listening to the group, they scrapped it.
‘They must urgently start listening to stakeholders... so they can get things up and running again before winter bites.’
Minutes from previous meetings of the group reveal fears over the future of the NHS. They set out concerns over the impact of Covid-19 and suggest work must be done to ensure the NHS continues to remobilise.
As part of its recovery plan, the SNP unveiled proposals in August to ramp up staffing levels to help tackle the backlog built up during the pandemic.
Details revealed a pledge for an extra 1,500 staff over the next five years to support the rollout of National Treatment Centres. These are specialist hospitals for high turnover non-emergency procedures. The Government also hopes to increase training places for doctors by 100 per year, but there is no guarantee those trained in Scotland will stay in the country.
The plan re-states a previous commitment to increase the GP workforce by 800 full-time family doctors but concerns have been raised that this is not enough.
Nicola Sturgeon and Mr Yousaf faced criticism for reheating old pledges amid a decades-long medical recruitment crisis.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The NHS Scotland £1billion Recovery Plan was published in August, following previous input from the remobilisation group. Following the election, the System Response
‘Unthinkably reckless move’ ‘Alarm sounded months ago’
Group (SRG) was established, chaired by NHS Scotland’s chief operating officer, which is taking forward the remobilisation and recovery of our NHS.
‘The SRG is comprised of strategic leaders from across the NHS and care systems and engages with wide array of stakeholders. NHS and Social Care workforce planning also takes place through the National Workforce Planning Group and the National Workforce Forum.
‘Our £300million winter investment package will help prepare the NHS and support its staff for the pressures of coming months. NHS staffing has increased to record high levels and we’re committed to going further.’
DOES scotland still have a Health secretary? Not for the first time in his short tenure, Humza Yousaf has gone AWOL.
since he took on the role in May, meetings of the NHs remobilisation group have been cancelled – despite the worst A&E waiting times on record, the continued refusal of many GP surgeries to resume face-to-face appointments as a matter of course, and the news that some hospitals are drafting in trained but unregistered nurses to fill support roles on understaffed wards.
And despite scotland being in the middle of a pandemic, a fact ministers regularly cite when challenged on their failure to remobilise the NHs.
it is difficult to fathom why Mr Yousaf would sideline the remobilisation group at a time when patients need the NHs more than ever, especially those with chronic and serious conditions whose diagnosis or treatment was delayed by the decision to put the health service into hibernation in March last year.
there is a point at which any minister’s good intentions are outweighed by the flaws in his decision-making. it is ominous that, in Mr Yousaf’s case, it has taken only five months to arrive there.