Now recall MSPs over NHS crisis
As Holyrood enjoys 16-day break, a desperate plea...
HOLYROOD should be recalled early to debate the escalating NHS crisis, Nicola Sturgeon has been told.
As problems including chronic A&E delays and staff shortages mount, the First Minister has been urged to reconvene MSPs a week ahead of schedule.
Over the festive period, Scotland has recorded by far its worst A&E waiting times, with just 55 per cent of patients seen within the fourhour target.
Health boards have begged staff to cut short leave to help out, while NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde medics sought to have a ‘major incident’ declared due to concerns for patient safety. The alarming developments came as the chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland issued dire warnings about the future of the NHS. Dr Iain Kennedy said the service is ‘broken’ and cannot survive in its current form.
Pressures are coming from multiple sources, including a rise in flu cases, strep A infections and bed blocking caused by shortages of social care staff.
Though fellow MSPs are enjoying a 16-day break from Holyrood – from Christmas to January 8 – Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane has been doing GP shifts.
He said the NHS is in ‘an unprecedented crisis’, with the ‘system hanging together by a thread’.
Dr Gulhane said: ‘It’s no exaggeration to say Scotland’s NHS is on life support at the moment – and an emergency response is needed from Nicola Sturgeon.’
He added: ‘Each day, it seems, a fresh apocalyptic warning is issued by a senior medic or health board, yet [Health Secretary] Humza Yousaf is missing in action and there is silence from the Government.
‘Our NHS can’t afford to wait until next week for action from the health secretary. That’s why I’m calling on Nicola Sturgeon to reconvene parliament this week to debate the enormous crisis that is continuing to unfold on her watch.’
Last week a nurse posted a copy of Mr Yousaf’s Christmas hours for his SNP constituency office that stated it will be closed until January 4 to ‘enjoy festivities’, saying: ‘You shut up shop whilst we hold the fort 365 days a year, 24 hours a day and for what? Shame on him and our pathetic government.’
A recently retired nurse added: ‘Imagine if the NHS only worked office hours to enjoy festivities?’
Nurses are locked in a pay dispute with the Scottish Government which has brought them to the brink of their first strike.
Yesterday, A&E doctor Lailah Peel, deputy chairman of BMA Scotland, tweeted: ‘As we start a new year which will see the NHS’s 75th anniversary, it feels far from celebratory as it’s falling apart around us.’
The Scottish Government said: ‘This is one of the toughest winters in the NHS’s history. We are monitoring the situation in emergency departments extremely closely and are in daily contact with health boards to ensure all possible actions to support services are being explored.’
‘Scotland’s NHS is on life support’