Tories criticise state of repair of hospitals

TORIES today criticised the poor state of repair of Scotland’s hospitals.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw quoted the findings of an Audit Scotland report which said there was an estimated backlog of £500 million in maintenance and repair to NHS properties across the country.

It also warned financial pressures might make it even more difficult to maintain these properties in the future.

Mr Carlaw said: “This is a deeply worrying discovery. Not only are our hospitals in a state of disrepair, but there are also question marks over how the repairs will ever be paid for.

“This is a classic case of failing to fix the roof when the sun was shining. Successive Scottish governments have failed to deal with this problem when the budget was available to them, and now they no longer have the funds.”

He said people would understandably be apprehensive about the safety of NHS buildings.

“We cannot afford to wait to carry out these repairs. Nicola Sturgeon must urgently provide a means for these repairs to take place so NHS patients can rest assured that these buildings are up to standards,” he said.