Prominent members of the north-east medical establishment have attacked claims by pro-independence campaigners that only a Yes vote will save the NHS.
The group – made up of former consultants, GPs, academics and hospital and health board bosses – have signed an open letter published in today’s Press and Journal stating that the Scottish Government has spent tens of millions of pound on private healthcare in an effort to reduce waiting lists and achieve “political targets”
Their intervention is the latest in the war of words over whether the NHS in Scotland is threatened by actions to contract out health services in England.
The signatories – including Sir Graeme Catto, former General Medical Council president and emeritus professor of medicine at Aberdeen University; retired neurosurgeon Mr Chris Blaiklock; retired orthopaedic surgeon Mr Ken Mills; and retired accident and emergency consultant Professor Graeme Page – say health authorities north of the border are already working closely with the private sector.
The letter says that in the last two years the Scottish Government has spent £70-£80million on private healthcare, providing patients with faster treatments and procedures that are not available on the NHS.
The experts say NHS consultants carry out 90% of private healthcare – and insist the private sector is “extremely useful” to patients and the Scottish Government.
“The Scottish Government is wholly responsible for funding decisions and for any move toward privatisation of the NHS in Scotland,” they write.
“We add our names to the 68% of doctors in Scotland who care deeply for our NHS and wholeheartedly support the union.”
Pharmacist Dr Willie Wilson, co-founder of the pro-independence group NHS for Yes, pointed to another 70 healthcare professionals who recently signed a letter backing independence.
“It is becoming increasingly clear to both people who work in the NHS and those who depend on it that a Yes vote is the only sure way of protecting our public health service from Westminster’s austerity agenda and the knock-on impact from the privatisation programme that is already running rampant in the NHS in England,” he said.
“When so many eminent healthcare professionals – both the signatories to this open letter and our members in NHS for Yes – are making these points, it is wise to listen.”