Government reckless for abandoning NHS remobilisation group, says Scottish Labour
The Scottish Government has been branded “unthinkably reckless” for abandoning an advisory group on NHS remobilisation after the May elections.
The Mobilisation Recovery Group was set up in the summer of 2020 with a focus on remobilising the NHS after the initial pandemic lockdown.
Its members included senior figures from the NHS, representatives from health colleges and unions and Scottish Government ministers.
But the group, which met every two weeks until April 16, has not reconvened after the Holyrood elections in May and the response to a freedom of information request from Scottish Labour found subsequent meetings had been cancelled.
Minutes from the group’ s final meeting include a reference to planned future sessions.
Correspondence with members shows the group was paused in May to give the new Health Secretary, Humza Yousaf, “time to consider how best to undertake stakeholder engagement as we remobilise and recover the NHS in this next stage of the pandemic”.
A government official said in July that plans for the future of the group were close to being finalised but they could not be more definitive.
Scottish Labour said it was “astounding” that the government had not reconvened the group and labelled the move “unthinkably reckless”.
“It is astounding that the government would scrap this key group when our NHS is teetering on the brink of a full-blown crisis,” said Scottish Labour’s health and Covid recovery spokesperson Jackie Baillie.
“The SNP insist that NHS remobilisation is a priority – but this unthinkably reckless move shows that isn’t the case.
“The group was sounding the alarm on mounting pressures months ago, but Humza Yousaf decided to bury his head in the sand until things reached crisis point.
“As our NHS falls deeper and deeper into chaos it’s clear that responsibility lies squarely with the SNP. Instead of listening to the group, they scrapped it completely.
“They must urgently start listening to stakeholders and those on the ground, so they can get things up and running again before winter bites.”
The Scottish Government was approached for comment.