Raising Audit Scotland’s report into the NHS at First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the SNP had “ducked” the big challenges in its decade in power.
The party is now calling on the SNP to adopt Audit Scotland’s recommendations – including a move, backed by nursing leaders, to allow health boards to set budgets for three years, not just the year ahead.
Audit Scotland’s report revealed that “there is evidence of boards increasingly using short-term approaches to meet annual financial targets….through one-off measures”.
Speaking after First Minister’s Questions, Ruth Davidson said:
“Ten years ago, Audit Scotland was raising these exact same concerns about the NHS. Countless times, Nicola Sturgeon has promised action.
"Yet, once again, another Audit Scotland report reveals that our NHS is in crisis. Under the SNP, the NHS has suffered a lost decade.
“Ministers have ducked, dithered and delayed the key decisions – too busy fighting a referendum to champion our NHS.
"The First Minister’s response today was to put her head in the sand and then point the finger at England. We need her to take responsibility, not pat herself on the back over the SNP’s failed record.”
Health spokesman Donald Cameron added:
“Audit Scotland today make a series of important recommendations to help deliver the sustainable NHS we all want to see.
"That includes giving Health boards more long-term budgets so they can plan properly, and not scramble around to find savings at the end of every year.”
“These are common sense solutions that the SNP should have adopted years ago. They’ve been ignored because Health Ministers have been out campaigning for independence, not focussing on the day job.”