Humza Yousaf is under pressure over the shocking case of a 10-year-old boy who has waited years for mental health treatment to start.
He was taken to task by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar over the “incompetence” at his debut First Minister’s Questions.
Alan Galbraith, from Dumbarton, has been waiting for the entire time that Yousaf was health secretary in Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet.
Alan’s dad Robert said: “He is really up and down. He will have days where you won’t get a word out of him. We don’t know what’s happening unless something goes wrong.
“I feel like he is just being left. It doesn’t matter what happens with him.
“There has been an array of cancelled appointments. We expected them to give Alan a diagnosis, maybe start medication, something to help but there has been nothing.
“All we get when we phone is ‘we’re sorry’.
“I cannot begin to understand why Alan has gone from ready to start medication, to back of the queue, especially when it is a matter of mental health, and I really fear for what further delay will mean for him.
“We feel constantly let down.
“We are very aware of the pandemic but there is just not an answer, all while my son and my family are suffering.”
Sarwar said: “For children like Alan and their families, incompetence has consequences, continuity won’t cut it and more of the same isn’t going to improve their lives.
“The new First Minister has a lot to get to grips with, so I thought it’s only fair we start with something he should already
be across.
“There is a mental health crisis affecting children across Scotland but they are struggling to access treatment.
“During Humza Yousaf’s time as Health Secretary, more than 11,000 children and young people waited more than the 18-week standard for treatment.
“Shockingly, over 14,000 had their referral for mental health treatment rejected entirely.”
He added: “It’s not just two years of his failure, it’s 16 years of SNP failure. This Government has never met their 18-week CAMHS standard.
The new First Minister said: “I am more than happy to receive details of the individual case that Anas Sarwar refers to and to see whether there is any way we can assist Alan and his family.
“I say again that I am the first – as I was when I was health secretary – to acknowledge there are challenges and there were challenges before the pandemic.
“However, all of us who have lived through the past few years will acknowledge that the impact of the global pandemic has been felt in our health service here in Scotland and in health services across the United Kingdom and right across the world.”
Sarwar hit back: “Alan was waiting for the entire time that Humza Yousaf was health secretary.
“Let that sink in: a young child who desperately needed help from our NHS had to wait for the entire time Humza Yousaf was health secretary.
“There is no hiding behind any pandemic or behind the statistics in Humza Yousaf’s book. Families are suffering across this country.”
MSPs yesterday approved Yousaf’s Cabinet and junior ministers days after he won the SNP leadership contest and became First Minister.
At FMQs, he also defended appointing a minister for independence – Jamie Hepburn – as part of his new-look government.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross accused Yousaf of not governing in the name of all Scots following his decision to use taxpayers’ cash to fund the position.
Ross said: “This is the largest government since devolution, with more ministers than ever before.
“But key ministerial posts relating to social security and tourism were abolished, yet a new minister for independence was created.
“Does the First Minister really believe that appointing a taxpayer-funded nationalist campaigner is governing for all of Scotland?”
Yousaf replied: “Yes, I make no apology whatsoever for having a minister for independence because, my goodness, we need independence now more than ever before.
“We need it now more than ever before because in energy-rich Scotland, we have Scots who are fuel poor because of the UK Government’s policies.
“We need independence now more than ever before because we have more food banks in this country than ever before because of over a decade of austerity.”
Ross also accused Yousaf of appointing a “Cabinet full of his predecessor’s lackeys”.
The First Minister said he was “delighted to have appointed a Cabinet and a ministerial team that will build upon the legacy” of Sturgeon and her deputy first minister John Swinney.
He also dismissed Ross as being a “third-rate politician leading a third-rate party”.
Speaking about the SNP, the First Minister declared: “It is because we focus on the priorities of the people of Scotland we are going to continue, I am certain, to be the most popular party in this country.”
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