Scottish Labour would merge Grampian, Highland and islands health boards together into one service if they win the next Holyrood election.
The crisis facing Scotland’s NHS has been a major focus of the first day of the party’s three-day conference in Edinburgh.
Labour announced that if they come into power in Scotland they will reduce the current 14 territorial health boards to just three – east, west and north.
It would bring NHS Grampian, NHS Highland and the three island health boards together under one northern service.
Proposal to save £20m
The party’s deputy leader and health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie made the announcement during an impassioned speech on how Labour would manage the NHS if they were in charge at Holyrood.
She said too much money is being spent on bureaucratic management in the NHS, and the savings could be spent on frontline staff instead.
She said: “Each has a chief executive, directors of finance, directors of HR, and an army of spin doctors.
“The cost of that alone is over £20 million.
‘Wrong priority’
“And as the performance of our NHS has declined, the amount of bureaucracy and the number of managers has soared.
“That is the wrong priority.”
She said the £20m saved from this proposal would pay for more than 700 nurses.
Ms Baillie added: “The people of Scotland don’t care where the health board headquarters is based but they do care about being able to access their GP close to home and specialist services at their local hospital.”
In her speech, Ms Baillie also attacked the SNP for their handling of the NHS.
She highlighted issues such as A&E waiting times, long waiting lists for treatment, delayed discharges and staff vacancies.
Ms Baillie shared a number of individual’s personal stories about accessing NHS care.
And she placed the blame squarely at the door of SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf.
She said: “The current cabinet secretary for health is without a doubt the worst minister I have ever had the misfortune of shadowing.
“Lives are put at risk on a daily basis, with a shocking 10,000 excess deaths recorded on his watch.
“Even by the standards of previous SNP health ministers, Humza Yousaf stands out for his incompetence.”
It comes just one day after it was revealed Mr Yousaf is considering standing to become the next first minister following the resignation of Nicola Sturgeon.
Ms Baillie commented: “The lack of self-awareness might be considered by clinicians to be delusional.”