£105m in bonuses to health service consultants attacked

THE Scottish Government has spent £105 million on NHS consultant bonuses since 2007, Liberal Democrats have revealed.

Answers to parliamentary questions submitted by the party also show in 2010-11, the government paid more than 27m in distinction awards to consultants.

Lib Dem health spokeswoman Alison McInnes criticised the SNP's "distorted" priorities, after figures published last month showed the number of nursing posts dropped by more than 700 in the six months to March.

She said: "The health secretary (Nicola Sturgeon] needs to ask herself what sort of message this sends out to the public as they see front-line services being slashed right across Scotland. The health secretary made a huge show about freezing this scheme this year, but this has barely scratched the surface."

A Scottish Government spokesman said a freeze on the value of existing awards and a suspension on making any new awards was in place.

He added: "Under the previous administration, spending on distinction awards increased by 60 per cent, whereas this Scottish Government has frozen distinction awards since 2009-10, resulting in a saving of almost 3m.

"We will look carefully at the findings of the review, expected to be published in the autumn, and act accordingly."