In response to the Public Audit Committee’s findings into the management of patients on NHS waiting lists, Labour’s Jackie Baillie said:
“The previous assertions from Nicola Sturgeon and then Alex Neil that problems with waiting lists simply did not exist have been exposed as being patently untrue.
“We were told ‘no one is on a waiting list’ yet this was just not true. We were told it was a computer problem, and that is simply not true. It is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot trust a word uttered by the SNP on waiting lists.
“There are still no answers on how widespread the misuse of social unavailability codes were in manipulating waiting times across the country. No rationale has been provided on why the use of codes fell dramatically, after the NHS Lothian debacle, a fact acknowledged by Audit Scotland and now this Committee.
“The reality is that this scandal was part and parcel of the SNP’s fixation on meeting targets rather than providing proper patient care. It’s no coincidence that as the use of these codes rose, target times reduced. Nicola Sturgeon chose to ignore the warning signs of this scandal.
“Instead of fiddling the figures the SNP should focus on supporting our hardworking NHS staff to deliver the best possible patient care.”
Follow Jackie on Twitter: @jackiebmsp
