By Lucy Ashton
Jackie Baillie has told how an inspection report into NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s flagship hospital shows that SNP neglect has led to a recruitment crisis which is impacting on patient care.
The Health Improvement Scotland report into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital outlines a vacancy rate of 10.1 percent among nurses and allied health professional staff.
The inspection was undertaken at a time when the hospital was under extreme pressure with NHS bosses issuing daily social media messages urging people not to attend unless they had life-threatening conditions.
The inspection report points directly to media press releases which were sent out with this message.
This comes after Scottish Labour uncovered information confirming over £6.6 million is being spent on a 200-strong army of spin doctors across the NHS in Scotland, £500,000 of which is spent by NHS Greater Glasgow on Clyde including a director pocketing almost £100,000 a year.
Dumbarton constituency MSP, Jackie Baillie said: “It’s all too clear that the SNP Government has entirely lost control at our flagship hospital and lives are at risk as a result.
“The hospital is in the midst of an acute staffing crisis due to years of SNP neglect and the A&E department is in disarray. The staffing to patient ratios are at dangerous levels and this has a direct impact on patient outcomes.
“Patients and staff are being failed every day but the Cabinet Secretary for Health [Humza Yousaf, above] has entirely failed to act.
“Lives cannot be further risked by the intransigence and incompetence of this SNP Government.
“It is impacting on people in my constituency who are sent to the QEUH for specialist treatment and on our hard-working staff employed at the hospital.
“Rather than spending millions of pounds spinning its catastrophic running of our NHS the government must start investing in the frontline staff.”
ENDS
- The full report can be viewed at The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – safe delivery of care inspection report: May 2022 (healthcareimprovementscotland.org) SNP slated over ‘appalling’ £6.6 million bill for NHS spin doctors as hospitals lurch from crisis to crisis – Scottish Daily Express