Moray MP Douglas Ross has described the outcomes of visits to Moray by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Health Minister Jeane Freeman as “buck-passing on an industrial scale”.
Douglas said: “After a long period of neglect it is welcome that the Scottish Government has suddenly woken up to the existence of Moray and sent a series of five ministers here in the last few weeks. While they are, of course, always made welcome here, we needed action not words to prevent a further deterioration in our vital public services.
“All we got was buck-passing on an industrial scale. Nicola Sturgeon blamed Brexit for the downgrading of the maternity service at Dr Gray’s while Jeane Freeman belatedly demanded a report from NHS Grampian. And yet these are the ministers who have been responsible for running the NHS in Scotland for the last 12 years. Where is the action? What are they doing? The problems afflicting Dr Gray’s have been brewing for years.
“Above all, this is a disastrous failure in workforce planning. It was Nicola Sturgeon who cut the number of training places for nurses and midwives by 20% and the number of university places for medical students by 11% when she was SNP Health Secretary. But as we know, when things go wrong it is always someone else’s fault with the SNP.”
Douglas also expressed astonishment that the First Minister chose Tomintoul to announce investment in broadband coverage – but left out Moray.
“It was astonishing that she should choose Moray as the place to finally announce a deal which will help communities on the west coast but which does little for people struggling with poor connectivity in Moray. We have consistently received a very poor deal from this SNP Government which seems to be obsessed with the Central Belt, its own pet schemes and planning for a second independence referendum.