It is painful to imagine what patients and families must be feeling today as the crisis in NHS Tayside’s breast cancer service deepens.
The departure of Dr Douglas Adamson in January will leave the embattled health authority with a single consultant, who was recruited in August, to serve the whole of the region.
It comes nine months after NHS Tayside’s chief executive Grant Archibald told Holyrood’s public audit committee he was unable to make long-term promises about the future of local services.
They are now “on the brink of collapse”, MSPs were told on Thursday.
It’s against this chaotic background that health bosses are trying to attract new talent to fill the vacant positions.
It does not look like an environment where the brightest and the best might hope to flourish.
Scottish Government said it would act
Nicola Sturgeon promised in February that she would look at the issues around NHS Tayside breast cancer services in detail and respond to the concerns raised by Mr Archibald.
She was not there to reveal what, if anything, she had learned during first minister’s questions on Thursday.
But her place was taken by deputy first minister John Swinney, whose reply to a query from North East Labour MSP Michael Marra suggests, at best, a misunderstanding of the gravity of the situation, at worst, a disregard for those affected by it.
Shouts of "disgrace" at #FMQs as @JohnSwinney rebuffs @michaeljmarra's question about our front page story on NHS Tayside's breast cancer service in crisis.https://t.co/uEAkCRnFXU pic.twitter.com/yXGMWasMGr
— Derek Healey (@C_DHealey) November 11, 2021
There are patients going through some of the toughest experiences of their lives who will be fearful for the continuity of their care in the new year.
There are reports of patients having to travel to other health boards for care, patients who will not and cannot travel, patients forced to go private and patients who cannot afford to make that choice.
And there will be patients in Mr Swinney’s Perthshire North constituency who expect more from the man they have trusted to stand up for their interests.
They deserve better than this.
John Swinney accused of putting his constituents ‘at risk’ over NHS Tayside breast cancer crisis