Neil Gray ‘open to ideas’ about future of NHS in Scotland

Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie later criticised the government’s health record.

She told The Sunday Show: “I don’t doubt people’s ambition to bring down waiting lists, but the fact is they’ve failed.”

“We’ve had the SNP in charge for 17 years – what we’ve got now is a continuity first minister, a continuity cabinet, because it’s largely the same faces sitting round the table.

“The people who have been in charge of the NHS are still the same party and the same people.”

Dame Jackie, who is also the party’s health spokeswoman, called for greater investment in primary and social care, including hiring more GPs, and better workforce planning.

She added: “We’re letting down patients across Scotland, but we’re also letting down the staff who do such a tremendous job but without the support and resources that they require.”

“It isn’t just about throwing more money at it, we need to drive efficiency through the NHS and the staff are the very ones who actually have the ideas about how to do that.”

Dr Gulhane, of the Scottish Conservatives, said: “If Neil Gray is going to fix the mess the SNP has made of the NHS, he needs to be honest about the scale of the challenge.

“His claim that waiting times are coming down is fooling no one.

“On A&E, cancer treatment, delayed discharge and cancelled ops things are getting worse, which is a damning indictment of both the SNP’s dire workforce planning and Humza Yousaf’s flimsy Covid recovery plan.”

The practising GP also warned the higher taxes imposed by the SNP were an obstacle to recruiting and retaining more medics.

And he urged ministers to follow the Cass review on gender care rather than “ignorant ideology”.