Alex Salmond criticised over SNP’s record on NHS

ALEX Salmond was accused of presiding over years of letting down patients on waiting lists as Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont used First Minister’s questions today to attack the SNP’s record on the NHS .

• Johann Lamont said that Salmond was ‘denying the sick and vulnerable the treatment they so desperately need’

• Ms Lamot claimed the SNP government had failed to meet the 12 week target for treating patients within 12 weeks

• She went on to say that Salmond was in denial about what happens in the NHS 

Ms Lamont said that Mr Salmond “sounds ridiculous” in defending former Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s five year tenure as health secretary after the government was criticised over waiting lists in a major report.

The Labour leader said that Mr Salmond was “denying the sick and vulnerable the treatment they so desperately need” as she claimed that the SNP government had failed to meet the 12 week target for treating patients within 12 weeks.

She went onto say that Mr Salmond was “entirely in denial about what happens in the NHS” after spending watchdog Audit Scotland said that public trust in the NHS was been jeopardised because of cases of patients being listed as socially unavailable.

However, Mr Salmond insisted that the NHS was “performing extremely well” in the face of this year’s harsh winter conditions and cuts imposed on Scotland by the Tory-led government at Westminster.

The First Minister also said that the SNP government had delivered improvements to waiting lists, with most patients treated within the 12 week waiting time target.