Salmond’s NHS claims are ‘blatant scaremongering lies’
ALEX Salmond was last night accused of spreading lies about the NHS in a desperate attempt to revive his ailing separation campaign.
Westminster leaders hit back at the SNP chief for telling Scots that only independence would protect the NHS in Scotland from the budget cuts and privatisation imposed in England and Wales.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael accused him of ‘deliberate misinformation’ and ‘scaremongering’, insisting the NHS was a ‘great British institution’ that has been sheltered from cuts and would continue to be protected after a No vote.
His comments come as new figures reveal that privatisation in Scotland’s NHS has soared since Mr Salmond came to power, with private consultants now routinely used, while patients are also regularly shipped out for treatment in private hospitals.
Last week, Mr Salmond claimed during a BBC interview that after a
No vote Scotland would be ‘at the mercy of the privatisation agenda’ and ‘cutbacks’ happening in the NHS in England. He also claimed ‘disintegration and fragmentation’ of the NHS was already happening south of the Border.
However, in an interview with The Scottish Mail on Sunday, Mr Carmichael said: ‘It is blatant scaremongering. They have control in the Scottish parliament of the health service in Scotland and the only people who could make people in Scotland pay for healthcare at the point of use are the SNP themselves.
‘They are now putting out deliberate misinformation and this comes from the top – Alex Salmond himself said in an interview with Jackie Bird that the budget south of the Border had been cut and that is untrue. It was one of the earliest decisions of the coalition government to protect in real terms the NHS budget so that when inflation goes up the NHS budget has gone up.’
He pointed to UK Government figures showing the NHS in England has received annual real terms growth in each of the last four years, meaning funding was £12.7 billion higher in 2014-15 than in 2010-11.
‘It borders on the distasteful that the Nationalists are now trying to create fear and anxiety in the minds of the voting public, who will rely on the NHS. It is a great British institution.’
Despite Mr Salmond’s claims about the creeping privatisation of the NHS south of the Border, figures published today by Audit Scotland show Scottish health boards have spent £222 million in the last three years on private firms providing care for patients.
In 2012/13, spending by the Scottish NHS on private consultants and private hospitals reached a record £83.5 million – which was 36 per cent higher than in 2007/08, when the SNP came to power.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: ‘These figures expose the SNP’s smear campaign about the future of the NHS in Scotland. ’
Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Neil Findlay said: ‘The SNP’s blatant lies which link the NHS to independence aren’t fooling anyone.’
A spokesman for SNP Health Secretary Alex Neil said: ‘The No campaign’s sensitivity on the subject of the NHS speaks volumes – the fact is, the moves towards wholesale privatisation of the health service in England threaten the funding available for Scotland’s NHS.
‘Only a Yes vote in the referendum can fully protect Scotland’s NHS from Tory-led Westminster cuts – and that is just one reason why so many people are deciding to back an independent Scotland.
‘The Health Secretary is looking forward to giving a statement to parliament next week spelling out the consequences for Scotland’s health service if there was a No vote.’