Sturgeon Pressed On NHS 'Mess'

Labour has urged the First Minister to fix this mess'' of hospital accident and emergency departments coming under pressure over winter.

Kezia Dugdale said that while nurses are crying out for support'', Nicola Sturgeon hadplenty to say but no action to offer''.

But the First Minister, who conceded yesterday that A&E departments are under ''considerable pressure'' this winter, hit back by saying the situation would have been worse if Labour was still in power.

The pair clashed in angry exchanges during First Minister's Questions at Holyrood.

Ms Dugdale, Labour's Scottish deputy leader, told the SNP leader that the Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow was using a Portakabin'' to treat some patients and bosses at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary had been forced to cancel 80 operations this week.

All across the country patients are being turned away or receiving unacceptable treatment,'' she said.

At a time when our public services and industries need government support more than ever, people in Scotland have one simple question - when will the First Minister fix this mess?''

She said the problems in the NHS are not new'', with leaders of the Royal College of Nursing warning of issues for months.

Ms Dugdale, who claimed the First Minister had been posted missing'', added:Nurses who keep our NHS going are crying out for support yet the First Minister has plenty to say but no action to offer.''

Ms Sturgeon responded: When I was as Kezia Dugdale describes as 'posted missing', I was at Ninewells Hospital yesterday announcing money for additional nurses in our National Health Service.''

She said there are now three times as many consultants working in A&E units as there had been when Labour was last in power, with the NHS employing 1,700 more nurses and benefiting from additional cash.

She also told MSPs that while Labour had planned to close the A&E departments at both Monklands and Ayr hospitals, the SNP in government had kept them open.

Ms Sturgeon insisted: It's not Labour's record I'm focusing on, it's the SNP's record.

Let me just repeat some of that record - three times the number of A&E consultants, 1,700 more nurses, £3 billion more being spent on the health service and two accident and emergency units that are open and operational now that would have been closed under Labour.

So I accept each and every day we hold office we will have more work to do to make sure our NHS cares for the patients that depend on it, but I think the people of Scotland will want to see this Government moving forward, they will not want to go backwards with the Labour Party.''