Health secretary denies 'crisis' in Scotland's NHS

Scotland's NHS is not in crisis despite facing "challenges", the health secretary has insisted.

Neil Gray said that while key targets - such as those for accident and emergency waiting times - were not being met, ministers were working to reform the health service.

Waiting times hit an all-time high earlier this year, while a third of people attending A&E are waiting more than four hours to be seen.

The British Medical Association in Scotland has described the NHS as being in “permanent crisis”. The Royal College of Nursing has warned of a "workforce crisis" north of the border.

But in an interview with Holyrood Magazine, Gray said the NHS was not in crisis.

Asked on BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland what it would take for him to declare one, he said: “Of course there are challenges within our health service. Of course for people who are waiting for too long or staff that are feeling overstretched then that description would be accurate.

“But for the majority of people who interact with our health service and who work in it I don’t believe that is the case.”

Public Health Scotland figures showed that in the week ending 1 September, 18,002 (67%) of patients attending at Accident and Emergency departments were seen and admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

This was up from 66.4% the previous week but well below the 95% target set by the Scottish government.

Gray said Scotland’s A&E figures were the best in the UK, but not “where we want them to be".

He also cited a survey, co-commissioned by the government and Macmillan Cancer Support, that found 95% of respondents were "positive" about the cancer care they had received.

The health secretary said ministers were working to improve working condition for NHS staff.

He highlighted that working hours had been reduced for Agenda for Change staff - which includes nurses, midwives and paramedics - and that the government was working to ensure they are the best paid in the UK.

Gray warned the NHS faced a “challenge of sustainability" due to "profound" demand on secondary care services.

But he said the government was investing in measures “to ensure that we’re preventing people getting ill or sicker in the first place".

'Out of touch'

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane has accused the health secretary of being "in denial".

He said: "The reason the health secretary won't accept what's staring him in the face is because it would mean admitting how badly the SNP have let down patients and NHS staff."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie called his comments "astoundingly out-of-touch".

She added: "NHS staff do an incredible job in caring for us but they are let down by the SNP time and time again."