Murdo says new Health Secretary Neil Gray needs “a reality check” following the release of the latest “poor” A and E waiting time statistics for Fife.
He was commenting after Public Health Scotland (PHS) recently issued the latest waiting times for patients at hospitals across Scotland for the week ending February 11. The data shows that while the number of people that were seen within the target of four hours in NHS Fife improved from the previous weekly figures (the week ending February 4), the statistics for those waiting over four hours, over eight hours and over 12 hours all increased.
New Health Secretary Neil Gray recently claimed that NHS Scotland’s accident and emergency departments are showing “signs of stabilisation” and added that pressure should ease “in coming weeks,” despite figures from PHS which state the opposite.
Commenting, Murdo said: “I think Neil Gray needs a reality check here. I have always found him to be very helpful in my dealings with him at the Scottish Parliament and wish him well in his new post but he maybe hadn’t realised the mammoth task he has in his hands in trying to reduce the poor A & E waiting times. The latest figures for NHS certainly show no sign of stabilisation – they are very poor.
“The fact of the matter is he has inherited a health service that has been allowed to deteriorate through successive failed Health Secretaries. The role of Health Secretary seems to be a bit of poisoned chalice but that won’t bring any comfort to A & E patients who have had to wait more than four, eight and 12 hours to be seen in Fife.
“We would all like to see the waiting time figures at A & E departments for Fife and Scotland improve and stabilise but the latest data shows this obviously isn’t happening. Instead, the SNP Government are yet again failing the people of Scotland.”
