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.

Shona Robison faces resignation call at Scottish Parliament

Shona Robison gives her ministerial statement.
Shona Robison gives her ministerial statement.

Shona Robison batted off a call for her resignation as she updated MSPs on the financial mess at NHS Tayside.

In a broadside at the beleaguered health secretary, Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said Ms Robison should consider her position for allowing the board to descend into crisis.

NHS Tayside has been mired in accounting controversy – including using charity cash to fund IT projects – that has forced out its senior leadership.

Mr Sarwar told her: “You have let down NHS staff. You have failed too many patients. You have breached the trust of the public. This has happened on your watch in your local health board.”

Ms Robison insisted the Scottish Government has given “extensive support” to the board, including at least £45m in emergency loans.

In her statement to Holyrood, she said: “I have been clear with the new leadership (at Tayside) that their priorities must be to steady the ship, provide clarity on where the organisation is going and to take the public and the staff of NHS Tayside with them throughout that process.

“I have every confidence in John Brown and Malcolm Wright that they will deliver this.

“I look forward to seeing NHS Tayside reach its full potential and become the organisation that the staff and people of Tayside deserve.”

Bill Bowman, the Scottish Conservative MSP, said an independent inquiry must establish “who knew what and when” over the misuse of public and charitable money.

Jenny Marra, the Labour MSP, called for every member of the Tayside board to undergo skills tests to see if they are up to the job, which Ms Robison said is a matter for the new leadership.

Ms Robison poured cold water on her predecessor’s proposal for NHS Tayside to be folded and replaced with one of three super-boards covering the whole country, as the Lib Dems demanded the centralisation plan is rejected.

The Greens said the struggle for more than half of the health boards to balance the books is evidence of a lack of NHS funding.

 

 

NHS Tayside crisis: Read Shona Robison’s full statement to Parliament

It emerged this month that charity donations were used to cover general spending at NHS Tayside.

In March, it was revealed that digital healthcare funds worth £5.3m had been recycled since 2012, making the board’s finances look better than they really were.

An investigation by the charities regulator OSCR is underway, which is looking at the behaviour of the Tayside board over its use £2.7m of endowment fund cash, as well as probing whether other health boards are implicated.

The board is expected to require at least £12 million in bail-out loans from the Scottish Government for 2017-18, which would bring the brokerage total to £45 million.

There are at least three other health boards in Scotland which are struggling to balance the books for the financial year and are likely to need government support.

Professor John Connell left his post as chairman after being asked to resign by the health secretary.

John Brown, who is chairman at NHS Glasgow and Clyde, is taking over Professor Connell’s responsibilities.

Lesey McLay is “not at work” and her chief executive role at Tayside is being performed by Malcolm Wright, the CEO at NHS Grampian.