Doctors' leader warns Scottish NHS 'deteriorating' as Health Minister faces more calls to resign

The chorus of demands for the SNP’s embattled Health Minister to resign has intensified as the head of Scotland’s doctors warned the country’s NHS is “deteriorating” thanks to a lack of staff and funding.

Dr Peter Bennie, the chairman of BMA Scotland, said that doctors are “under pressure like never before” and are struggling to keep up with rising demand.

Speaking ahead of a gathering of more than 200 doctors in Glasgow,  he said the high number of vacant posts “across all parts of the profession are simply not sustainable”, with patient care suffering as a result.

His outspoken attack on the resources being provided by Shona Robison, the Health Minister, came as the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats joined Labour in demanding her resignation.

Willie Rennie used his keynote speech to his party’s spring conference in Aviemore to highlight a series of failures in the NHS and argue that the situation will only improve “when there is change at the top.”

Nicola Sturgeon refused to sack Ms Robison on Thursday despite Scotland’s public spending watchdog stating that warnings about NHS Tayside’s financial crisis were not taken “seriously.”

Ms Robison’s local health board has been propped up by more than £45 million of “brokerage” loans in recent years but it emerged last week that it raided its endowment fund when faced with a deficit in 2014. The fund is made up of public donations or bequests in wills and is not supposed to be used for running costs.

A series of key waiting time targets are also being missed and boards are facing significant shortages of nurses and consultants.

Dr Bennie said: "Crucially, while there have been increases in both finances and workforce, this is simply not keeping pace with demand.

"Doctors struggle with the implications of this on a daily basis, with services deteriorating, patients suffering as a result and more pressure being put on already overworked staff.

“Equally, the vacancy levels across all parts of the profession are simply not sustainable and have a knock-on effect on those staff in post.”

He said this was compounded “by political pressure to meet arbitrary targets” that often have little relationship to the quality of care or patients having a positive outcome.

Dr Bennie called for an end to the "arbitrary, politically-driven targets" and for Ms Robison to produce a clear plan to reduce the gap between the NHS’s resources and demand.

Mr Rennie used his speech yesterday to argue that Ms Robison had used NHS Tayside’s chief executive and chairman, both of whom have been replaced, as political “human shields.”

Highlighting a range of issues from the board’s financial woes to the shortage of GPs, he told the Scottish Lib Dem conference: “I am fed up with it. These failures must mean change must come.

“I don’t often call for resignations. Shona Robison must accept that she is responsible. Change will only come when there is change at the top. She must resign and she must resign now.”

Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, said Dr Bennie’s comments represented a “brutal summary of how miserably Shona Robison and Nicola Sturgeon have failed our NHS.”

But Miles Briggs, the Scottish Tories’ Shadow Health Minister, refused to call for Ms Robison’s head. He said: “If I thought getting rid of Shona Robison would solve all the problems facing our NHS, I would have called for it long ago.”

A spokesman for Ms Robison said: “Willie Rennie’s petty, personalised attack on Shona does him no credit whatsoever – the Health Secretary has addressed the issues facing NHS Tayside, where a new leadership team has been installed.

“And she is presiding over a health service where we are investing record amounts of money, with record high numbers of staff.”