SNP record with Scotland's NHS defended by Nicola Sturgeon despite 'unsustainable' financing warning

Nicola Sturgeon defended her Government's stewardship of Scotland’s NHS following a report that said the service was “not financially sustainable”.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, the SNP leader said her Government’s flagship NHS Recovery Plan retained her confidence despite warnings from Audit Scotland of an “ever-increasing backlog” of patients and “unsustainable” spending on the health service.

Douglas Ross said the Audit Scotland report was a “damning verdict” on the SNP’s handling of the NHS, adding Ms Sturgeon’s backing of the NHS recovery plan required a major re-write.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was pressured over the NHS' performance.

“It’s what she believes is the way of getting our health service out of the struggles of the pandemic,” Mr Ross said.

"Yet it’s a very different view from Audit Scotland who have said this morning, quite a damning verdict on the Government’s plan to rebuild Scotland’s NHS.”

Mr Ross later pointed to evidence to the Parliament’s Covid-19 recovery committee from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which said 500 excess deaths were “entirely attributable” to delays to admission at emergency departments.

He said: “Five hundred lives lost because the Government did not act early enough despite receiving warning after warning that Scotland’s NHS is in crisis.

"So First Minister, if the Audit Scotland report isn’t a wake-up call for you and your Government, surely these deaths must be.”

Ms Sturgeon rejected the suggestion she was not taking the Audit Scotland report seriously.

She said: “Anybody listening to me will hear me taking very seriously the Audit Scotland report, the challenge it poses, the challenges that our NHS faces, which are in common to challenges health services across the world face.

"But it recognises the work the Scottish Government is doing. It absolutely rightly questions the detail of that work, and says that our ambitions are challenging and will take time to deliver.

"The Scottish Government will pay very close attention to the recommendations it makes.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also pressed the First Minister on the report, which he said painted a “devastating picture” and accused the SNP of blaming all of the problems the NHS faces on Covid.

He said: “Staff and patients are crying out for help and a First Minister who responds with empty rhetoric rather than practical action.

“This Government has been solely responsible for Scotland’s NHS for 15 years. The result? Staff burnt out and wanting to leave and patients failed and languishing on waiting lists.”

Ms Sturgeon responded: “I don’t pretend to all of the challenges facing the NHS and other health services are all down to Covid.

“It has faced the pressure of a decade of Tory austerity, started actually under the last Labour Government, in case we forget that point.”

Louise Slorance, whose husband Andrew died at the flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, also hit out at news leadership at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had been given an “excellence award”.

She said: “The factors to support excellent leadership of NHSGGC are actually a reflection of the highly skilled and dedicated healthcare workforce in Glasgow, who strive every day to provide the best possible care for their patients in impossible circumstances.

“The body of evidence supporting the worst of leadership by GGC is substantial. This is a kick in the guts for all the families, patients and staff affected.”

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