Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has been forced to write to Deputy First Minister John Swinney after an exchange in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.
After the Scottish Conservative MSP asked Mr Swinney about the impact of the Flu vaccination and Covid-19 booster programmes on nursing resource across the NHS, Mr Halcro Johnston accused the Deputy First Minister of not answering his question and launching into “a bad-tempered and long-winded rant”.
Mr Swinney had earlier provided a statement to the Scottish Parliament updating MSPs on Covid-19, in response to which Mr Halcro Johnston highlighted concerns that the transfer of nursing staff from their normal roles to administer the vaccination programme might cause additional pressure on the NHS. He also asked what the Scottish Government was doing to access or train vaccinators from outside of the NHS.
Jamie Halcro Johnston said: “My question followed a discussion I had with someone in nursing who had, because of the important vaccination and booster programmes, been taken away from their day-to-day nursing responsibilities."
“We already know that Scotland’s NHS is short of around 3,400 nurses, and so it was perfectly reasonable to question the Deputy First Minister on how this might impact on an already under-pressure sector and what the Scottish Government might be doing to help alleviate that pressure.2
“I was surprised by John Swinney’s response to what was a reasonable question and one which, surely, he should have been able to answer. It is worrying that he wasn’t and chose to deflect instead. The important point here is that the public and NHS staff need to be reassured that the Scottish Government is managing the vaccination programme in a way that is not exacerbating staff shortages across the NHS and, particularly, in the availability of nursing staff."
“John Swinney’s bad-tempered and long-winded rant will not have reassured anybody. It avoided answering the question and I have now been forced to write to him and give him a second chance to provide a more reasoned response. Clarity and honesty is vital, and Mr Swinney should not resent being asked entirely reasonable questions by elected representatives on this important matter.”
Jamie Halcro Johnston’s exchange with John Swinney can be viewed here (from 15:15:20): https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/meeting-of-the-parliament-november-9-2021
A transcript of the exchange is available here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-09-11-2021?meeting=13392&iob=121554#5800
