Challenging Nicola Sturgeon at First Minister’s questions, Ruth revealed that staffing at St John’s Paediatric Unit in Livingston is now so bad that senior nurses are backfilling doctors’ work.
It comes as new figures show that the number of consultant posts vacant for more than 6 months has now risen to 164, up by 14% in just three months.
Compared to 2011, the figure has risen by more than 300%, when only 37 posts were vacant for that time.
Responding to concerns issued by doctors earlier this week, the First Minister once again attacked the NHS in England – rather than take responsibility for the Scottish NHS for which she is responsible.
Ruth said:
“As doctors say, the Scottish Government needs to get a grip of the growing NHS recruitment crisis in Scotland.”
“The scale of that crisis is now becoming clear. In the worst cases, nurses are backfilling for doctors because of the lack of staff, while weekend and night shifts are on the point of collapse.
“But – in the case of St John’s - instead of responding promptly, the SNP spin operation sought to push this crisis out till after the election.
“It follows a growing pattern with this SNP Government. Bad news announcements on transport and on education and now on health have all been pushed out because of the Holyrood election.
“When it comes to the NHS, we need a government focussed on creating a long-term future, not on short-term headlines.”