Labour attacks SNP over cut in hospital beds

LABOUR has accused the Scottish Government of "staggering hypocrisy" after figures showed more than 1,100 hospital beds have been cut in the past three years.

The party said the drop came despite the SNP's calls when they were in opposition for the number of beds to be increased.

But a spokesman for Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon insisted Labour were the ones being hypocritical and were "thrown out of office" as a result of their "wretched failure" on health.

The figures were collated by Scottish Labour after they submitted a Freedom of Information request to every Scottish health board.

They showed the biggest decline was in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which has cut 333 beds in the past three years. NHS Grampian has cut 180 beds and NHS Highland lost 162 beds in the same period, the statistics showed.

Overall, there were 22,794 beds in Scotland's hospitals in 2009/10, down from 23,942 in 2007/08.

Jackie Baillie, Labour's health spokeswoman, said: "Yet again, the SNP have been caught saying one thing in opposition and doing another in government.

"Although advances in medical practice mean patients don't need to spend so long in hospital and more people with long-term conditions are treated in the community, the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon promised in opposition to increase the number of hospital beds."

But Sturgeon's spokesman said Baillie "should be ashamed of her hypocritical statement".

He said: "Under Labour the number of beds in Scotland's NHS fell by 1,300."