SNP Angels of Death, Audit Scotland issues a damning report on Nicola Sturgeon’s incompetence regarding Scotland’s NHS, the professionals don’t trust her, the public don’t trust her, hospitals in crisis, under staffed and underfunded, how long before it’s your family suffering or dead, this is what happens when talentless people get hold of power

Dear All

Unpopular Nicola Sturgeon having realised that the SNP’s record in the Scottish Government is disgraceful and shambolic has asked the public to ‘trust her’ on her record.

The tactic isn’t new, it’s akin to ‘what I have done, I didn’t know’, when the SNP took office in 2007, Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond put Nicola Sturgeon in charge of health. She remained in charge until she was shifted to another post to be the ‘face of independence. During that time, the SNP set health targets and we were sold an SNP lie that everything was getting better, and that health was a flagship policy of the SNP because Sturgeon was in charge.

On this blog as far back as I can remember, I said specifically that the second term of the SNP Government needed to be about Scottish Government and local Government reform. This never happened as everything was effectively dumped in favour of chasing Scottish independence.

The crisis in the Scottish NHS didn’t start last week under Nicola Sturgeon’s pal Shona Robison, it didn’t start under Alex Neil; it started under Nicola Sturgeon. When she bailed out, Alex Neil stepped in and the cracks successfully covered up under the Sturgeon regime poured out into the public domain, he was a lame duck and was replaced by another lame duck.

I think I am qualified to speak on this subject because I nearly died towards the end of 2014.

I was emergency admitted to hospital by a GP’s letter after being refused treatment at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Glasgow despite being in crippling pain I was told I was a time waster and had a sheet of paper explaining what A&E was for. 55 hours after being kicked out, I was back, literally hours or minutes from having an internal rupture that if it had occurred I would have ended up dead.

To show how serious my condition was I was kept in as an inpatient, this was during the scandal of Doctors turning away genuine patients down at what local people still refer to as the Southern General.

Nicola Sturgeon by her neglect created a crisis in the health service allowing the service to be stripped of cash over the past five years. She kept her mouth shut as lives were put in danger, including mine, although there is an 18 week target for treatment, I waited 27 weeks for my operation. 2015 was by any stretch of the imagination the worst physical experience of my life, coupled with the fact I was forced to get emergency outcall treatment from nurses on several occasions.

While in hospital, I spoke to other patients and staff about the health service; the staff were clear on the causes of their problems, not enough staff and not enough money was being made available. Despite that these people worked incredibly hard, they didn’t stop and were under enormous pressure. While in hospital, I saw some pretty brave people who were going through tough times indeed. I was lucky; I met an elderly Jewish man in the next bed who kept my spirits up named Stanley Ockrim, we were both going through the same problem but in his case, he had been operated on, I was being stablised as the medical staff fought to stop my internal problems getting worse.

They say if you stand still, you can see the world go by, as a bed ridden patient I had a front seat seeing the Scottish NHS in crisis. In case you don’t know, being in hospital is nothing like the ‘carry on’ movies.

The watchdog Audit Scotland is saying what most staff already know, the NHS will no longer be able to provide the same level of care.

This is Nicola Sturgeon’s legacy to the NHS, she crippled it beyond belief!

As I said years ago; reforms were needed right across the Scottish Government regardless whether there was a successful independence bid or not. Health isn’t cheap, it never will be, but more can be done to help people stay healthy and active thus reliving pressure on the health services.

Prevention is better than cure, and cheaper!

The SNP isn’t a party of government, it is a cult, it is a party of protest which has gotten control of the government of Scotland and will not do what is necessary to fix problems, not just in health but anywhere. The Nationalists are so short sighted they work on populist policies and gimmicks to get them from crisis to crisis, so there is no effective plan as most people would recognise.

Scotland is a backward country under the Scottish National Party.

The NHS is suffering under tighter budgets, rising costs, and higher demand, and at the other end of the scale, Government targets and soaring staff vacancies placing a strain on NHS boards. To highlight my point, if it needed to be highlighted again, I said there was a genuine lack of talent in the SNP. Audit Scotland has said SNP ministers are not making enough progress with their aim to move more services into the community by 2020.

Audit Scotland, new report is a wake up call for all Scots, especially the sheep who think Nicola Sturgeon can fix the problems, she can’t, she makes matters worse, she appoints the wrong people, she can’t show leadership, she loaded her government up with cronies who are patently out of their depth.

The damning new report found:

Seven waiting times targets missed last year.
15 per cent rise in spending on temporary staff.
Seven out of 10 A&E vacancies lie unfilled for six months.
£797 million is needed to tackle a maintenance backlog and get buildings up to scratch.

And what do we get from the SNP piecemeal patch ups, a miserable £60million on easing workload and recruitment pressures. And to there is talk of a public ownership buy out of TATA steel in Scotland, the SNP can find money for gesture politics, if it makes Nicola Sturgeon look good in the press it seems.

This isn’t proper government, if it is a choice of investing in health, or letting TATA steel go to the wall, then TATA steel is going to the wall. The SNP were quick enough to abandon Scottish steelworkers pouring money do unviable enterp
Rises seems to be their strong point. They use government cash like it was their own personal piggy bank.

Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Jim Hume said:

“After eight years of SNP government, our NHS seems to be in need of intensive care. NHS boards have been forced to scramble to address staff shortages and short-term arrangements have replaced long-term planning. This is clearly not sustainable.”

Labour’s public services spokeswoman Jackie Baillie added:

“For years the SNP protested that they were protecting the health budget – today’s expert report shows it decreased on their watch. Under the SNP, NHS staff are undervalued, under resourced and under intolerable pressure.”

Dr Peter Bennie, chair of BMA Scotland, said:

“The overriding message is that substantive and realistic action is needed if our health service is to cope with the rapidly increasing pressures it is facing.”

Royal College of Nursing Scotland associate director Ellen Hudson said:

“If we are to put the NHS on a sustainable footing, then the government needs to take heed of this report and listen to what we and many other organisations have been saying for some time about the pressures on our health services.”

So, there you have it, the professionals don’t trust the SNP to mange the Scottish Health Service, so why the hell should you?

The majority of the people of Scotland weren’t prepared to bet their property and savings on a dangerously naïve independence bid devoid of substance, why would you bet the health of your family member on Nicola Sturgeon whose history of repeated health failures are common knowledge?

Nicola Sturgeon’s word is worth exactly zero!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University