NHS Pressures

It's claimed Scotland's NHS is in crisis, but the SNP aren't facing up to the problem.

Scottish Labour's Jenny Marra says there's a huge disparity between Scottish Government consultant vacancy rates and the BMA Scotland figure.

The Scottish Government puts the consultant vacancy rate at 6.5% compared to a BMA Scotland figure of 11.3%.

Ms Marra wants the Health Secretary to bring forward the publication date of consultant vacancies:

"Our NHS in Scotland is in crisis, but the SNP are not facing up to the problem, in fact they seem determined to look the other way.

"People across Scotland will look at the huge disparity between the Scottish Government’s figures from last year and the BMA's for this year and wonder what the condition of our NHS truly is. If consultant vacancies have truly doubled in the last year then the SNP have to explain why.

"It is concerning enough that the experts felt the need to FOI this information, but it is even more concerning that they say it shows our NHS falling apart.  the Scottish Government should bring forward the date for publishing their stats on consultant vacancies."

Last week, Finance Secretary John Swinney said NHS spending will hit a record £12 billion over the coming year.