Thousands of NHS patient scans being sent abroad for analysis – Conservatives

Around £500,000 has been spent sending almost 15,000 NHS patient scans “halfway around the world” for analysis abroad, the Scottish Conservatives have said.

During First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood on Thursday, Tory leader Douglas Ross attacked the Scottish Government’s record on the NHS, saying the health sector is “in crisis at every level”.

Nicola Sturgeon hit back, saying the situation would be worse if the Tory UK Government’s tax cuts had gone ahead and blaming “economic mismanagement” at Westminster for recent interest rate rises.

He said: “We’ve learned that half a million pounds of Scottish taxpayers’ money has been spent sending almost 15,000 patient scans around the world, some as far away as Australia, to be reviewed.

“First Minister, why are Scottish scans being sent to private companies on another continent for analysis?”

He said Scotland needs an additional 100 consultant radiologists.

Ms Sturgeon said the NHS will always take steps to ensure the fastest possible diagnoses and treatment of patients.

The figure represents a “tiny, tiny fraction” of scans carried out in the Scottish NHS, she said.

The First Minister said there is a global shortage of radiologists and the health service has to recruit internationally – a challenge “not made easier by the policies of the Conservatives on Brexit and immigration”.

“It seems that today Douglas Ross is doing the exact opposite.

“I’m not sure if that’s yet another flip-flop from Douglas Ross, that’s for him to determine.”

Mr Ross said Scotland’s NHS is “in crisis at every level”, mentioning delayed discharges and waiting lists.

He raised the case of a woman in Musselburgh who said she had been forced to phone her GP 120 times in order to get an appointment for a lung infection.

Mr Ross added: “The situation at accident and emergency is at the most critical it has ever been.”

Ms Sturgeon responded: “Of course people are right to be worried about the ability of our NHS to cope with spending constraints and the impact of Tory mismanagement on our economy.

“Since we’ve been in this chamber we’ve just heard that interest rates have been increased to 3%, the highest for 14 years, the biggest single increase since Black Wednesday of 1992.”