Anas Sarwar is not living in the real world and is now describing Labour MPs as idiots, says John Swinney

Some patients have been forced to wait for more than six months in hospital after they have been medically cleared to leave, claims Sarwar

Heated First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood today featured Anas Sarwar and John Swinney.

by Bill Heaney

Audit Scotland’s report on delayed discharges from hospital is damning and should shame John Swinney and the Scottish National Party government, according to Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

He added: “It reveals that, in the past year, more than 720,000 bed days were lost to delayed discharge.

“That is almost three quarters of a million clinically unnecessary days in hospital in a single year for patients who are cleared to leave but many of whom are trapped because they cannot get a care package.

“Those 720,000 bed days equate to nearly 2,000 bed days lost every day. That is the real-life consequence of almost 20 years of government by John Swinney and the SNP. Is that not 720,000 more reasons why Scotland needs a new Government and new leadership?”

First Minister John Swinney however said that he welcomed the report “because it highlights the importance of tackling the issue of delayed discharge. That issue has been a priority for this Government and that is recognised in the Audit Scotland report.

“In relation to the substance of the delayed discharge issue, Audit Scotland highlights the complexities that are involved, but it also highlights that delayed discharge affects only 3 per cent of patients in our health system, which means that 97 per cent of patients leave hospital without delay.

“Complex challenges have to be addressed, which is why the report that Scotland’s population health framework, the health and social care service renewal framework and the NHS operational improvement plan, offer an opportunity to make progress, with a common focus on prevention.

“That means that Audit Scotland recognises the arrangements that this Government has put in place to work with our partners to address the substance of the delayed discharge problem, which will be my priority in taking forward that activity.”

Anas Sarwar said Mr Swinney’s response was “pathetic”.

He added: “That was a pathetic answer from a First Minister who promised to eradicate delayed discharge a decade ago, and it proves that he is out of touch and out of time. He must own the damning consequence of his 20 years in government that 720,000 bed days have been lost in one year.

“The SNP’s failure to deal with delayed discharge costs taxpayers and our national health service more than £440 million a year. Hundreds of millions of pounds are wasted while waiting lists remain too long and staff feel unsupported. Audit Scotland warns that ‘the system cannot function as intended’.

“There is no grip from the centre, no clear accountability and no effective oversight, all of which has human consequences.

“Some patients have been forced to wait for more than six months in hospital after they have been medically cleared to leave. Why is John Swinney so willing to dismiss not just the financial cost of his failure but the human cost of this SNP Government?”

The First Minister explained: “An important point at the heart of the Audit Scotland report is about the need for there to be the deepest level of integration between health and social care services in Scotland. The Government tried to do something about that through the work that we did on a national care service, but the Labour Party would not support us, despite having made a policy commitment to support a national care service.

“What that means is that the Labour Party says one thing in one context and another thing in a different context.

“What is my evidence for that? On Monday, Anas Sarwar claimed that waiting lists in Scotland ‘continue to rise’, but, yesterday, he admitted that waiting lists in Scotland are coming down. That change between Monday and Wednesday shows that Mr Sarwar does not understand whether waiting lists are going up or coming down. What that means is that Mr Sarwar simply makes it up as he goes along, and the people of Scotland are seeing through that.”

Anas Sarwar accused John Swinney of “not living in the real world — he thinks that Scotland’s problems have been caused by the Opposition, not by a man who has been in government for 20 years. In just four months [at the May elections], Scotland can get rid of this useless SNP Government. Scotland’s NHS is not safe in John Swinney’s hands.

“He ignores the evidence, he ignores the experts, he ignores the patients who share their heartbreaking stories and he ignores the doctors and the nurses who are on the front line. Will he ignore the damning words of Alex Neil, who was his colleague for more than 20 years and who is a former SNP health secretary? Alex Neil said: ‘A friend of mine waited 3 hours for an ambulance and then 33 hours on a trolley at Ayr Hospital last week before being allocated a bed. The First Minister’s claim that the SNHS has turned a corner is rubbish. Scotland’s hospitals are in deep crisis and need urgent action NOW’.

“He is right—John Swinney is talking rubbish, is he not?”

The First Minister kept his cool – “The plans to tackle long waits in Scotland that I set out in the first budget under my leadership as First Minister have resulted in a 31 per cent reduction in new out-patient waits and a 28.6 per cent reduction in in-patient and day-case waits. Sustained progress has been made over a six-month period. That says to me that the national health service is making the recovery that it needs to make from the Covid pandemic that affected us all.

“Mr Sarwar is very good at dishing out advice. Eighteen months ago, he advised the people of Scotland to elect Labour members of Parliament. Yesterday, he described those Labour MPs as “idiotic”. That tells us all that we need to know. Anas Sarwar is not living in the real world, and telling the people of this country to vote Labour 18 months ago has proved to be a disaster, because he is now describing those Labour MPs as idiots. The people of Scotland are now realising that Anas Sarwar offers nothing in new leadership to Scotland and that the SNP will get on with delivering for the people of Scotland. That is what we are doing just now.”