SNP wastes money on gimmicks as frontline nurses and midwives fall by 700

Official figures show NHS Scotland has 712 fewer nurses and midwives than in September 2010.

Nanette Milne MSP, Scottish Conservative Public Health Spokesperson, said:

"Following on from BMA Scotland's criticisms yesterday, these figures tell the worrying story of the SNP's misuse of NHS money. We now have fewer frontline nurses and midwives.

"When Scottish Conservatives became the first party in Scotland to back the protection of the health budget, it was to protect our vital our frontline services. However, whereas we want to reduce management costs and redirect funds to those in the frontline of patient care, the SNP has been wasting money on gimmicks like free prescriptions for those who can already afford to pay.

These measures might generate short term popularity but, as we can see today, they do nothing to help the long term sustainability of our NHS, especially when you consider that 90% of prescriptions were already free to begin with.

"These are tough times and the SNP now has no excuses for failing to deliver. They have to explain why we now have fewer nurses and midwives, at a time when our frontline services need all the help they can get."

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