First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has accused Labour of “fantasy economics” as she came under fresh pressure over the state of the NHS.
Labour’s deputy leader Kezia Dugdale said the health service is “at breaking point” and called on the Scottish Government to back her party’s plan for a £100 million fund for more NHS services in evenings and at weekends.
Ms Sturgeon insisted her Government is doing everything possible to support front line health staff, as she was pressed on the issue during First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood.
Ms Dugdale said: “I know from speaking to NHS patients and staff across Scotland that our health service is at breaking point.
“These are people who need treatment and the dedicated staff who provide it. They do a wonderful job but they are struggling and they need support from their Government.”
She called on the First Minister to set out whether a rise in the number of acute patient cases in Scotland’s NHS had been matched by a rise in the number of staff.
Ms Sturgeon said there had been a 6.5% increase in the number of staff working in the NHS since the SNP took office in 2007.
She said: “We know the pressures that our health service is working under. That’s why this Government has been increasing funding for our health service. It’s why we’ve been increasing the number of people who work in our health service.
“Only this week the Health Secretary announced an additional £100 million to tackle the challenge of delayed discharge in our health service.
“We will continue to do everything we possibly can to support those working at the front line in our National Health Service.”
Ms Dugdale countered that the number of acute NHS patients in Scotland had risen by more than 10%, representing an extra 1.4 million patient cases since 2007, with staffing “lagging far behind”.
She welcomed the additional funding to tackle the problem of delayed discharge – known as bed blocking – but said it was “not enough”.
“The problem isn’t just at the back door, it’s on the front line”, she said.
Ms Dugdale called on Ms Sturgeon to back Scottish Labour plans for a £100 million “front line fund” to deliver more NHS patient services in the evenings and weekends.
She said: “The First Minister has £113 million worth of unallocated Barnett consequentials. We’re asking for £100 million of it. That’s real money to tackle a real problem and it’s about time she took responsibility for it.”
The First Minister responded: “When Labour finally comes up with some coherent, costed plans for the National Health Service then in the interests of consensus I will be very happy to consider them in that open and constructive way.
“The fact of the matter is here Labour’s figures don’t add up.”
She added: “We’ll continue to invest real money from real budgets in our health service supporting those at the front line and frankly will leave Labour to their own fantasy economics.”
Ms Dugdale also pressed the First Minister on a Facebook advert looking for volunteers in the A&E department of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
“Does the First Minister still think there isn’t a crisis in Scotland’s NHS?” she asked.
Ms Sturgeon said the advert had been seeking volunteers for a befriending service in the department.
She said: “These volunteers do not replace NHS staff, they do not give any form of clinical care.”