HEALTH SERVICE IS ON THE BRINK
Sturgeon admits NHS is facing huge pressure Opponents demand proper recovery plan
SCOTLAND’S NHS is under more pressure than ever, Nicola Sturgeon has admitted.
But the First Minister refused to take responsibility for failings in the service and tried to blame Brexit.
The SNP leader acknowledged the huge strain on hospitals as they struggle to cope with the coronavirus crisis.
But she was accused of using ‘deflection tactics’ by trying to blame staff shortages on Britain’s exit from the European Union rather than taking responsibility and fixing the problems.
The British Medical Association has said that doctors are ‘worn out’ amid an escalating workforce crisis, while concerns have been raised about average waiting times for 999 ambulances soaring to six hours.
In an interview on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The health service is under more pressure than it has been under probably in any of our lifetimes.
‘And certainly I’ve spent 14 years in government, five-and-a-half of those years was as health secretary, seven years now as First Minister, I have not experienced the health service under the pressure that it is under. But we are living in a global pandemic.’
She said ‘hard choices’ are needed to tackle growing challenges across all parts of the UK and a ‘recovery plan’ is in place.
But she added that one of the factors is ‘increasing staffing shortages because of Brexit’.
Challenged on how she can blame Brexit when doctors have claimed the NHS has been struggling with problems for a decade, she said: ‘I wasn’t blaming Brexit.
‘You put to me the issue of staff shortages and I was saying, rightly, one of the many factors putting pressure on our NHS now is staff shortages and I’m afraid Brexit is the driving reason for that.’
She added: ‘Yes, the NHS has been under pressure for a long time and before Covid, but let’s look at the reality here.’
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Sandesh Gulhane said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon clearly has no idea what’s going on at the frontline of our NHS.
‘My colleagues are swamped and health services across the board are in crisis. The First Minister is in denial about the scale of the problems. Everything from GP to ambulance to A&E services are overwhelmed.
‘The deflection tactics are a disgrace.
‘The SNP are blaming everything else instead of taking responsibility and fixing the problems. The Government must bring forward a credible plan to bring Scotland’s NHS back from the brink.’
Yesterday’s latest official figures showed there are 977 people in hospital with coronavirus, up 49 on the previous day. It is the highest figure since February, near the end of the virus’s second wave.
A series of health boards have had to pause non-emergency surgery to deal with the growing number of Covid patients.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: ‘Nicola Sturgeon has launched a desperate bid to abandon any and all responsibility for the mess she made of NHS workforce planning.
‘Her shameless comments tell us everything we need to know about the SNP’s priorities – this is a party more concerned with hiding from blame than fixing problems.
‘This workforce crisis dates back to the catastrophically poor choices that Nicola Sturgeon made as health secretary.
‘The SNP need to stop playing political games when lives are on the line and instead take an honest look at what’s gone so badly wrong in our health and care services.’
Meanwhile, almost half of Scots are having difficulties accessing healthcare for non-Covid problems, a survey has revealed.
More than a third are struggling to get essential medication and groceries, findings from the Office for National Statistics also show.
The survey aimed to discover how the pandemic is affecting day-to-day lives.
A total of 46 per cent said it was difficult to get healthcare for nonCovid issues, a problem caused by rising waiting lists for routine medical procedures and delays seeing a GP.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘The SNP don’t seem to have a clue how to get the non-Covid bits of the NHS back up and running.
‘Their flimsy recovery plan is frankly an insult to NHS staff and patients waiting in pain.’
The survey of 200 Scots found 36 per cent struggle to get groceries, with shops hit by a shortage of lorry drivers.
McDonald’s, Greggs and the Co-op have all reported running out of certain items.
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was ‘working proactively with health boards to manage pressures and take rapid action to support increased capacity, including expedited recruitment’.
He added: ‘Our NHS Recovery Plan sets out commitments over the next five years, backed by over £1billion.’
‘My colleagues are swamped’