The “trappings of high office” have left the health secretary oblivious to the difficulties facing north health boards, it has been claimed.
North East MSP Ross Thomson savaged Shona Robison over the “astonishing” underfunding of the NHS in the region.
And he accused the government of a litany of failures that is forcing NHS Grampian to “breaking point”, including short-staffing and cancelled operations.
The comments came amid a Holyrood debate on a damning Audit Scotland report into the state of the Scottish NHS, which ended in SNP defeat.
The independent investigation revealed that the Scottish Government has short-changed NHS Grampian by more than £12million, while NHS Highland has been starved of £8.5million.
Health Secretary Ms Robison insisted her management of the NHS “does stand up to scrutiny”.
But Mr Thomson said: “Clearly the trappings of high office are preventing ministers from seeing what is happening on the ground, or they are blatantly denying their existence because its more convenient.
“Audit Scotland reported on NHS Grampian’s financial settlement and there in black and white you can see that the region is 1.4% below their … allocation – six years after the funding allocation formula for health boards was introduced.
“That is an astonishing £12.2m – £12.2m that NHS Grampian should get, but don’t.”
As well as the funding issues, the Audit Scotland document highlighted concerns that staff shortages could be impacting patient care.
Examples in the report include stretched staff being unable to provide sufficient care for patients with pressure ulcers and an increasing number of patient falls.
Spending on agency staff at NHS Grampian has risen 2700% in the last five years, while it has shot-up by 200% in the same period at NHS Highland.
Mr Thomson said the recruitment crisis had been deepened by the Scottish Government’s cap on student places to maintain free tuition.
He told MSPs: “When the residents I represent are experiencing a decline in the quality of service, when they tell me that NHS Grampian is reaching breaking point, it simply beggars belief that our universities are forced to turn away talented Scots due to bad government policy.”
But Ms Robison said the government was investing £2billion in the NHS over the next five years to improve services.
She added: “There are more than 11,000 more staff working in our health service than was the case when we took office.
“We are also acting to ensure that our medical workforce grows further.
“We are making it more sustainable and increasing the number of undergraduate medical school and specialty training places, as well as creating a new graduate entry medical school.”
Health Secretary, Shona Robison said:”This winter the Scottish Government has given an additional £9 million to health boards for emergency and unscheduled care, of which NHS Grampian will receive £700,000.
“In addition, we’ve invested £30 million to address delayed discharge – both of which will have a significant impact on addressing additional pressures over winter. Of this, NHS Grampian is receiving £2.36 million to support reductions in delayed discharge.”
