As anyone viewing First Minister's Questions last week would see, Nicol Stephen, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, confronted the First Minister about the devastating impact his waiting times targets have had on NHS patients. Nicol demanded that ministers come clean about how many patients have been dumped from NHS waiting lists in order to meet the Scottish Government’s waiting times targets.Nicol said, “The government needs to come clean about how many other doctors and surgeons have been told to delete patients in order to meet targets.
“We need to know how many health boards have been sending patients away without being treated. People expect the NHS to be available for them wherever they live in Scotland.
“Liberal Democrats are tabling questions to the Scottish Government this afternoon to get to the bottom of this sickening situation.
“I want to know what action the government is taking to get all the patients who received such devastating letters back into the NHS.”
Following a statement by NHS Tayside in response to the waiting times issues raised at First Minister’s Questions, Nicol said, “Clearly, if this issue had not been raised by me today these patients would have been left languishing in a ‘no-treatment no-man’s-land.
“There is no dispute that patients were forcibly removed from waiting lists. This was as a direct result of the current government’s policy.
“We now need a guarantee from the government that no other patients in Scotland have been treated in this disgraceful way.”
All the usual spin from the SNP "government" doesn't hide the fact that Nicol raising this serious issue has resulted in the particular issue at NHS Tayside being "hurriedly resolved" - but, as Nicol points out, the SNP administration must clarify the position regarding all patients across Scotland and provide proper reassurances.