Former NHS Lothian chair criticises Jean Freeman for denying NHS is in crisis

Government accused of portraying NHS boards as ‘idiots’

THE NHS in Scotland is in crisis and it is being badly handled, says former NHS Lothian chair Brian Houston.

“The Cabinet Secretary continues to state there is not a crisis. I find that disingenuous to a high order,” he said,

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Mr Houston cited an Auditor General report describing the NHS system in Scotland as not sustainable in its current form. And he pointed out more than two thirds of Scotland’s health boards are in special measures.

“Everybody involved this system who has any degree of honesty knows the system is bursting at the seams - and it’s bursting at the seams in every dimension, if you’re a porter at the Royal Infirmary or chairman of the board and everybody - nursing, medical, clinical staff - in between. Everyone is taken up with rushing from one short-term crisis to another - this waiting list has gone through the roof or we’re cancelling operations over here. Every piece of energy is taken up with that and so no head room is left to be thoughtful about the system and how we change and develop it.

“It defeats me that the Cabinet Secretary can stand up in parliament and deny that there’s a crisis in the NHS in Scotland.”

And he criticised the Scottish Government for denigrating local NHS leadership.

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“Since the balloon went up on the Sick Kids situation, there have been a series of statements from the government attempting to imply and in some cases being quite explicit that NHS boards are run by a bunch of donkeys. They are painting a picture of incompetence if not negligence on the part of the boards. There has been this constant impression that the leadership of the boards is failing.

“I have spent 40 years of a previous career advising and running companies and corporate organisations in different industries in different parts of the world, I know what good leadership looks like. And I can assure anybody the quality, competence, dedication and commitment of the leadership groups I have worked with in the NHS in Scotland, and particularly in Lothian, stand comparison with anything.

“The only interpretation I can place on the government’s message is this is defensive aggression on the part of the political level, saying ‘We’re going to take decisive action here because these idiots can’t’. It’s complete falsification.”

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