Humza Yousaf told to fix A&E waits ahead of winter or quit
Humza Yousaf has been branded as Scotland’s worst health secretary since devolution – as Labour demand he reduces record high A&E waiting times or quit.
Scottish Labour led a debate in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday to express concern for the health service ahead of a “challenging” winter.
Public Health Scotland data revealed 65.3% of emergency department attendees were seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in the week up to October 16.
While it is a slight increase on the 64.2% recorded in the previous week, it is far from the 95% target from the Scottish Government.
“I have been in Parliament for 23 years and I can say without fear of contradiction that Humza Yousaf is absolutely the worst health secretary since devolution,” she said.
His four predecessors – Nicola Sturgeon, Alex Neil, Shona Robison and Jeane Freeman – all recorded significantly higher statistics in the four-hour A&E waits.
Ms Baillie told the Scottish Parliament that the now First Minister’s record in October 2011 was 95.9%, followed by 93.9% from Mr Neil in 2013, 91% under Shona Robison and 89.6% under Jeane Freeman in October 2020.
She said: “Let me remind you, that’s eight months into the same pandemic this Health Secretary blames all of his failings on.”
The record low figures mean around 37 people could have lost their lives because of A&E delays in just a week, according to Ms Baillie.
She added: ““Our NHS is on its knees. The Health Secretary has a choice because doing nothing is not a choice.
“He needs to stop people needlessly dying this winter. So his choice is set out a clear plan to end waiting times of more than eight hours because this is about saving lives.
“And if he can’t do that, frankly, he must resign.”
In response, Mr Yousaf said no one would “deny the NHS is under significant pressure” this winter.
But he said Labour had their “fingers in their ears” to ignore the challenges the Covid-19 pandemic caused to the health sector.
He said: “I have no doubt that the NHS has had challenges pre-pandemic. But for Labour not to recognise that Covid has been the biggest shock they have faced is frankly burying their heads in the sand.”
He continued: “The NHS will not recover in weeks as Jackie Baillie is demanding – or even months – it will take years.
“That’s why the £1 billion recovery plan is predicated on five years of substantial investment and reform. I am certainly committed to that recovery.”
He added: “And while of course, the level of performance is not where I would want it to be…we will do everything we can to take a whole system’s approach to reduce these pressures.
“We must be frank that we face a very, very difficult winter accumulative pressures of the pandemic, the flu, the usual winter pressures of slips, trips and falls and therefor my focus and that of the government’s will be to spend every single waking moment supporting our NHS and the staff that work within it.”
An amended motion, in which the Scottish Government highlighted the “exceptional work of NHS staff through the pandemic and beyond”, was passed by 62 votes to 51.