Commenting on the cancelling of scheduled operations at Raigmore Hospital, Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron said:
“This is extremely disappointing news and will have consequences for people in the Western Isles who are waiting for elective surgery."
“While we can accept that there are additional pressures on the NHS during the winter months, this announcement follows hard on the heels of other disturbing reports about the performance of NHS Highland such as delays at A&E."
“This is no reflection on our hardworking and committed NHS staff, it simply demonstrates once more the abject failure of the SNP Government on workforce planning for the NHS. And, unfortunately, when there is a shortage of staff in the system it is always areas like the Highlands and Islands that suffer as resources get channelled to the Central Belt."
“This is why the Scottish Conservatives are campaigning for a new medical school to be established at Inverness to make our region more attractive to the doctors and nurses that we so badly need.”
Edward Mountain MSP has also commented on the situation:
"While I understand the reasons, it is extremely disappointing that elective operations are being cancelled – especially when NHS Highland are not meeting many of the Government’s treatment guarantee times. With the increase in admissions at Raigmore it is important to follow the advice of NHS Highland to relieve pressure on our hard-working medical staff."
HCUA Comment:
Under SNP mismanagement the Scottish NHS is lurching from one crisis to another, and in the Highlands we are often suffering the worst effects of over a decade of SNP failure. As ever, SNP ministers scramble to blame someone or something else: it is,apparently, never their fault that everything they run - Health, Education, Policing, Justice - is in crisis in Scotland.
