NHS deserves better, says Ross in call for Health Secretary to be sacked

Douglas Ross has called for Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to be sacked as nurses voted for strike action and accident and emergency waiting times worsened.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced on Wednesday that members in every health board in the country had voted in favour of industrial action in response to a flat £2,205 pay offer from the Scottish Government.

Pressure has also been growing on Mr Yousaf this week after figures showed the proportion of people seen and subsequently admitted or discharged within four hours in A&E departments fell to 63.1% against a target of 95%.

The Scottish Conservatives have called for the Health Secretary to be replaced as the NHS braces for a difficult winter.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told Deputy First Minister John Swinney – standing in for Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday – that the NHS faces the worst crisis in its history, which was “all on the SNP’s watch”.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said: “Scotland’s NHS is in crisis and whoever the SNP try to blame, it’s obvious that the man responsible is sitting right there next to the Deputy First Minister.

“Humza Yousaf has failed and all he can do is spin that the NHS is in recovery, when really it’s at breaking point.

“Just how much worse does it have to get for patients and staff before he takes responsibility?

“Deputy First Minister, Scotland’s NHS deserves better than Humza Yousaf, when will this Health Secretary be sacked?”

Responding, Mr Swinney said the call from Mr Ross is a “laughable proposition” given ministerial resignations within the Conservative UK Government in recent months.

He went on to say the pay offer made to NHS staff – which was rejected by nurses in favour of strike action – is the best in the UK, A&E performance is the best in the UK, and there are record numbers of staff.

“What’s not helping is the folly of Brexit, because Brexit has reduced the amount of staff available because of the loss of free movement,” he added.

Mr Swinney also said the UK Government has failed to recognise the inflationary pressures “that they have fuelled by their stupid economic decisions and as a consequence public budgets are under enormous pressure”.

Speaking to journalists after First Minister’s Questions, a spokesman for Nicola Sturgeon said she did have confidence in Humza Yousaf as Health Secretary, adding that pressures on the health service were not unique to Scotland.

He added: “If Douglas Ross wants to make himself useful, he can ask the United Kingdom Government to increase the budget for the Scottish Government so we can support the NHS to a greater extent and start addressing the issues that face members of the public.”

But Mr Sarwar told Mr Swinney “his head is frankly in the sand”.

“After 15 years in Government, 750,000 Scots on the NHS waiting list, the worst ever waits at A&E and now the Royal College of Nursing going on strike for the first time in their history.

“Does the Deputy First Minister accept that our NHS has not faced a crisis like this in its history, that it is the worst it has ever been, and it is all happening on the SNP’s watch?”

Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government will “sustain” its investment in the NHS – but stressed the “limitations” caused by the “financial context in which we are operating”.

Mr Sarwar said problems had existed in the NHS “even before the pandemic and even before Brexit”.

He said: “Nurses have been warning for years that staff shortages risk patient safety.

“Nurses are saying that a lack of resources is putting patients at risk. Lives are being lost.”

Mr Swinney said staff in the NHS in Scotland had reached record levels under the SNP, and he attacked UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for saying the health service had recruited too many workers from overseas.

The Deputy First Minister said: “I listened to those comments with incredulity. What is hampering us in the health service is the Brexit that was inflicted on us by the Conservatives, ending free movement of individuals which has lost members of staff from our national health Service. We need to reverse that.”