Whether or not I stand in 2021 is a matter for another day
Freeman stonewalls amid crisis
HEALTH Secretary Jeane Freeman’s future as an MSP is in doubt after she repeatedly refused to commit to standing for Holyrood again.
Freeman – under pressure over a double hospitals crisis – said her plan for the 2021 election is a “matter for another day”.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “It sounds like Jeane Freeman’s future as an MSP is in doubt but what the public really want to know is whether she is fulfilling her responsibilities as Health Secretary now.”
Elected as SNP MSP for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley in 2016, Freeman was made a minister before being promoted to Health Secretary.
Her tenure has been marked by rows over problems in the NHS she inherited from her predecessors.
She intervened to block the opening of the Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh amid concerns over safety.
Freeman has also faced flak over the mounting problems at the £842million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
As revealed by the Record, a whistleblower alleged 26 child cancer patients there contracted waterbased infections in 2017. The insider claimed one child, later revealed to be 10-year-old Milly Main, had died.
Freeman has described NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s handling of the row as “appalling”. She has resisted calls for her resignation but there are questions over whether she will stand for re-election in 16 months’ time. Asked by this newspaper whether she will stand in 2021, she said: “We are far too early to make those decisions. No, I’ve got a number of things I need to do.
“I need to deliver on our waiting times plan, I need to increase the pace of integration, I need to sort out the things we need to sort out in mental health.
“Most importantly, I need to make sure these families get to the truth. So that is ... what I am focused on. Whether or not I’m a candidate in 2021 is a matter for another day.”
Asked a variation of the same question two more times, she replied: “It is a matter for another day.”
Pressed again, she said: “I will think about that nearer the time.”
It came as Nicola Sturgeon pledged to parents grieving after the death of youngsters being treated at the QEUH that there will be “no stone unturned” in their quest for answers.
The First Minister also said there was a “strong case” for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to be put into “special measures”, with the Scottish Government increasing its involvement in the board.
Tory MSP Miles Briggs said: “For the good of Scotland’s NHS, [Freeman] should resign as Health Secretary immediately.”