STURGEON SAYS SORRY FOR CRISIS IN THE NHS
Weeks after misery for Scots patients...
NICOLA Sturgeon has finally apologised to patients over the NHS crisis this winter.
the First Minister and Health secretary shona Robison said sorry to those
whose treatment was delayed, as the health service buckles under the strain.
nHs chiefs were forced to deploy ‘exceptional’ strategies to cope with an influx of patients, with admin staff sent to make beds and clean wards as patients saw operations postponed.
the number of flu victims has more than doubled compared to the same time last year.
About half of nHs boards have reported significant pressure on wards as a result.
Miss sturgeon said the health
‘Just isn’t good enough for patients’
service was dealing with ‘exceptional’ pressures but was coping.
Miss Robison apologised to patients ‘waiting longer than they should’.
However they sparked fury when they also defended the performance of the NHS in Scotland, compared to that in England.
Opposition parties described their handling of the NHS this winter as a ‘shambles’. Critics said sorry was not good enough – and that the SNP had ‘overtly failed’ to prepare for a winter meltdown.
Miss Sturgeon and Miss Robison made trips to NHS facilities yesterday to publicly thank staff for their hard work.
But even as they spoke, the winter pressure showed no sign of easing, with NHS Highland announcing it will postpone surgery and even send patients from Raigmore Hospital, in Inverness, to other hospitals across the region.
Miss Sturgeon – who met call handlers at the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24 control centre in Cardonald, Glasgow – said: ‘I would apologise unreservedly, not just during the winter but at any time of the year, to any patient who is not seen as quickly as we would want them to be seen in the NHS, or who doesn’t get the treatment that they have a right to expect.
‘We’ve seen exceptional pressures this winter, largely due to the increase in flu cases but also, particularly in the period immediately before Christmas, weather-related pressures.
‘But the hard work, the incredible hard work, the incredible teamwork, of the staff of the NHS – and I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them – means that our NHS is coping in very, very difficult circumstances.’
She also said: ‘The blanket cancellation of planned operations we have seen take place in England has not happened in Scotland.’ On a visit to Perth Royal Infirmary’s A&E, Miss Robison said: ‘Any patient waiting longer than they should to be seen and treated within the NHS, I would apologise for that, but I think the public understand we are in exceptional circumstances here.
‘I have had lots of messages from the public saying staff, in the face of huge pressures and challenges, have done a tremendous job.’ She also warned that winter pressures are expected to be reflected again in A&E waiting time figures due to be published today.
The number of patients seen within the target four-hour waiting time was well below the 95 per cent target in the weeks before Christmas.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: ‘The SNP’s handling of the NHS this winter has been a shambles.
‘Sorry from the First Minister just isn’t good enough for patients and NHS staff failed by the SNP government this winter.
‘These were not unforeseen circumstances. Our NHS faced a similar crisis last winter, yet the SNP overtly failed to make the preparations necessary to avoid another winter meltdown.’
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘To a patient stuck on a trolley waiting for treatment or an NHS staff member run off their feet, the First Minister’s comments are not nearly enough.
‘We need to see the First Minister and the Health Secretary deliver a clear plan of action for addressing these winter woes.’
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