Humza Yousaf should be sacked for the growing crisis throughout Scotland’s NHS, the Scottish Conservatives have said.
Pressure mounted on the Health Secretary at First Minister’s Questions as Douglas Ross raised widespread problems in Scotland’s NHS, including the potential nurses strike and the longest waiting times ever.
The Scottish Conservative leader said this week’s accident and emergency statistics were the 14th time since Humza Yousaf became Health Secretary that waiting times have hit their worst-ever level.
However, on Thursday morning, Humza Yousaf claimed: “Our recovery plan is a five-year recovery plan. We’re already seeing elements of recovery.”
Douglas Ross listed a host of problems that have developed or worsened in the 18 months since Humza Yousaf became Health Secretary, including record staff vacancies, record waiting times, patients struggling to see their GPs and now the prospect of devastating strike action by shattered nurses.
He raised the case of a constituent who had called an ambulance when she suffered a suspected heart attack. They waited an hour for an ambulance to arrive. When it got to hospital it had to sit outside for three hours. Once inside, the woman waited 36 hours to get a bed.
Douglas Ross also highlighted recent comments from a host of health professionals on the state of Scotland’s NHS on Humza Yousaf’s watch. These included:
- Hilary Nelson, from the Royal College of Nurses, who said: “Things are not safe for patients.”
- Dawn Marr from the RCN, who said: “We’ve been in talks for months and months and months. And it has got to the point now where nursing staff are having to stand up for not only ourselves, but for our patients as well, because this government isn’t listening.”
- Dr Lailah Peel, of BMA Scotland, who said: “It’s been so awful for so long we’re simply broken, overwhelmed, exhausted, with nothing left to give. As far as I can see the NHS is collapsing around us. Staff are leaving in droves to protect themselves.”
Mr Ross concluded by saying Scotland’s NHS deserved better and that it was time for the Health Secretary to be fired.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said: “For the first time ever, nurses who work tirelessly in Scotland’s NHS are on the brink of going on strike. It’s not only about pay, they are incredibly worried about the crisis in Scotland’s Health Service.
“Time and again we come to this chamber raising the huge difficulties facing NHS staff and patients in Scotland’s hospitals. But it is now beyond doubt that the Health Secretary has failed.
“The facts confirm that our NHS is on its knees. This week’s A&E waiting-time figures are the worst ever – but this is the 14th time since Humza Yousaf became Health Secretary that waiting times have hit their worst-ever level.
“Lives are on the line because the Health Secretary keeps failing to bring forward any solution.
“But this morning, Humza Yousaf said: ‘Our recovery plan is a five-year recovery plan. We're already seeing elements of recovery.’ What planet is he on?
“From day one, we said his recovery plan was hopeless. It was flimsy, with no detail and no substance.
“This is what his recovery plan has delivered – record vacancies, the longest-ever waiting times, patients struggling to see their GP, nurses voting to strike for the first time ever and the worst ever A&E statistics.
“Scotland’s NHS is in crisis. Whoever the SNP try to blame, Humza Yousaf has failed and all he can do now is try to spin that the NHS is in recovery when, really, it’s at breaking point.
“How much worse does it have to get for him to take responsibility? Scotland’s NHS deserves better than this Health Secretary. It’s time for Humza Yousaf to be sacked.”
Note
Since Humza Yousaf became Health Secretary, A&E waiting times have hit a record low 14 times. Using the measurement of the % of patients waiting 4 hours or more, since Humza Yousaf became Health Secretary, the % of patients waiting more than 4 hours hit a new record low for the weeks ending 8 August 2021, 15 August 2021, 22 August 2021, 29 August 2021, 12 September 2021, 3 October 2021, 10 October 2021, 17 October 2021, 24 October 2021, 9 January 2022, 20 March 2022, 3 July 2022, 11 September 2022, 30 October 2022. Where there was a tie for the record low, it was counted towards the total if the number of patients waiting more than 4 hours was higher. (PHS, 8 November 2022, link).