JACKIE Baillie has quoted a nurse working in the south east of England to depict what she described as the “gut-wrenching reality” of Scotland’s NHS.
It came as the Scottish Labour depute leader gave a speech to her party’s conference in Glasgow on Saturday.
Attacking the SNP’s record on the NHS, Baillie – who is also her party’s health spokesperson – drew upon a recent report from the Royal College of Nursing, which quoted NHS staff working across the UK.
She quoted one nurse as saying: “This morning staff left in tears as we had a cardiac arrest in a corridor – we couldn’t move the bed to the resus area. Sadly this lady died.”
Baillie added: “That is the gut-wrenching reality of life on the front line of Scotland’s NHS today.”
However, the quote appears on page 266 of the Royal College of Nursing report, which deals with staff working in the south east of England.
Staff working in Scotland are quoted from page 395 of the report to page 435.
Other nurses who gave evidence to the RCN report which Baillie referenced were working in Scotland.
This included one who recounted having 40 patients in a space with capacity for just 13, meaning staff had to use privacy screens to allow patients to use a bedpan.
Baillie told her party conference: “John Swinney not being fit to run our NHS isn’t just an assertion, it’s a demonstrable fact.
“We need someone leading our country who cares about our NHS. Someone who has worked in our NHS. That’s why we need Anas Sarwar as Scotland’s next first minister.”
After the Royal College of Nursing report was published in January, Swinney promised his “unrelenting focus” would be on making sure “patients get the care they deserve”.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, the SNP leader said: “The first thing I want to do is apologise to any individual who has had an unsatisfactory experience in the care they have received and in the congestion within the hospitals.”
He praised NHS staff for the “unremitting commitment that they give to ensure that the system is able to deliver as best as it can in the face of unprecedented demand”.
Swinney added: “The Government is prioritising the National Health Service by ensuring that we’re investing the largest sum of money ever in the National Health Service and I look forward to the Government’s Budget passing to enable us to secure that investment for the people of this country.”
