MSP Edward Mountain tells health secretary Humza Yousaf: 'You’ve failed us and you’re a disgrace'
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A furious Edward Mountain has told health secretary Humza Yousaf to resign, amid the ongoing crisis in Scotland's NHS saying: 'You’ve failed us and you’re a disgrace."
In a speech in Holyrood, the Highland MSP slammed Mr Yousaf over his performance and revealed that 2569 orthopaedic patients are on the waiting list – including 184 who have waited for more than two years.
He also hit out at the health secretary over the new National Treatment Centre in Inverness that is due to open to patients in April but will be unable to work at full capacity straight away.
The SNP health secretary previously confirmed that he expects the new facility to complete 1350 operations during its phased opening in its first year while the local health board is targetting 1837
But 21.5 per cent of the staff required for the facility to run at full capacity have yet to be recruited and those with more complex orthopaedic needs, estimated at around 31 per cent of the waiting list, will have to go elsewhere.
Their options include NHS Highland’s already under pressure Raigmore Hospital or else travel to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary or the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank.
These new figures were highlighted by Mr Mountain who challenged the SNP health secretary on them in a speech at Holyrood during a debate on the ongoing NHS crisis.
“Research from Aberdeen University suggested that it might be seven years that [orthopaedic] patients would have to wait for treatment,” Mr Mountain said.
“Now that’s not actually going to be solved, Cabinet Secretary, by the National Treatment Centre which you are delivering two years late, over-budget, still not fully staffed – twenty per cent of staff still to be found.
“We should never ever forget that the National Treatment Centre will only be dealing with the easy cases, the easy orthopaedic cases.
“Not the difficult ones, not the ones that have been waiting for 4 years whose hips, knees and joints are so damaged because they’ve waited for so long. So that’s not all it promises to be.”
He concluded his speech, calling for Mr Yousaf to resign: “I believe this government has a lot to answer for the state of our National Health Service, something that I’m really proud of and passionate about protecting.
“Your time is up, Cabinet Secretary. You’ve failed us and you’re a disgrace.”
