Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Sturgeon accused of stalling as Angus health facilities face closure

Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon risks condemning health facilities in Angus to their fate by stonewalling pleas for action, say the Tories.

Mairi Gougeon, the SNP MSP, called on her boss at First Minister’s Questions to intervene in the “box-ticking” consultation on the closure of Stracathro Hospital’s Mulberry psychiatric unit.

But the FM faced criticism from the Tories for only taking action when pressed on the issue at Holyrood’s televised showpiece, despite fears being raised at cabinet six weeks ago.

Ms Sturgeon then swerved an invitation to issue an immediate appeal to Tayside bosses to save an Angus hearing charity.

Doctor shortages at the mental health in-patient facility in Angus forced staff and patients to be moved to the Carseview Centre in Dundee on February 1.

Ms Gougeon said a consultation on making the move permanent breached the rules.

“It offers no alternative to closure, is inaccessible and appears to be a
box-ticking exercise,” the Angus and North Mearns MSP told the FM.

“Will the First Minister commit to urgently investigating those concerns, to ensure that NHS Tayside meets its obligation to provide robust and transparent consultation?”

Ms Sturgeon said the health secretary “will certainly relay to NHS Tayside the concerns that have just been expressed”.

She admitted those concerns were raised at a Scottish Government cabinet meeting in Montrose on August 15.

“We will make sure that those concerns are raised and that the health board responds to them,” she added.

Kirstene Hair, the Conservative Angus MP, said: “Only now, after being put on the spot in the chamber, has there been any commitment to act.

“This ponderous approach, which is representative of the SNP, risks the
closure of the only acute mental health facility in Angus, as well as Hear to Help, which aids more than 600 service users.”

Ms Sturgeon was urged at FMQs to take action to halt the imminent closure of Angus Hear to Help.

Liam Kerr, the North East MSP, pleaded with the FM to ask NHS Tayside to stump up the £17,000 to save it.

Ms Sturgeon said she will make sure it is looked into, adding: “If there is
anything further that the Scottish
Government can do to help, we will
certainly be happy to do so.”

Health bosses in Tayside have defended the consultation saying they have held more than 50 engagement events.