The Cabinet Secretary for Health is “clearly distracted” by the ongoing controversy over his trips to watch his football team while A&E waiting figures in Fife have got worse.
That is the view of Murdo, who was commenting following the publication this week of the latest A&E waiting time data by Public Health Scotland (PHS), which show that patients in the Kingdom had to wait longer for treatment in the week ending November 3, compared to the week ending October 27.
The latest figures show that the number of A&E patients in Fife who were seen within the target of four hours fell from 945 to 808 in this timeframe. Meanwhile, the number of A&E patients who had to wait more than four hours to be seen increased from 476 to 518; the number who waited more than eight hours increased from 99 to 169 and the number who waited more than 12 hours also increased from 16 to 44.
Commenting, Murdo said: “The latest A&E waiting time figures for patients in Fife are absolutely appalling and need addressed. Time and time again, we see poor waiting time data for A&E patients in Fife yet this SNP Government do not appear capable of sorting this problem out.
“Instead, we have Neil Gray MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health, mired in controversy for his various trips to watch his football team, Aberdeen, and the use of Ministerial limos for travelling there. His statement to the Scottish Parliament last week, when he apologised for these trips, actually left more questions to answer and it seems SNP Government Health Cabinet Secretaries cannot focus on their job due to other matters.
“It looks like the Cabinet Secretary for Health is clearly distracted by this ongoing saga. He told Parliament that he had given the impression of ‘acting more as a fan and less as a Minister,’ and also revealed that he was accompanied by a family member or guest at several of these football matches, and that they travelled with him in his ministerial vehicle, which is not a good look at all.”
Murdo continued: “The country needs a Cabinet Secretary to be firmly focused on trying to reduce A&E waiting times across Scotland. Patients in Fife are being badly let down by this SNP Government. It is shocking to find out that A&E patients in Fife have seen waiting times increase in these PHS figures – it is high time this long-running problem was addressed.”
