Almost 20 hospital services are at risk of closure according to Labour who said budget cuts and staff shortages are to blame.
Health board planned cuts including to children’s wards in Glasgow and Paisley and the lack of a current Minor Injuries Unit in the west of Glasgow are the result of under investment from the Scottish Government the party’s health spokesman has said.
Anas Sarwar, Glasgow Labour MSP, said there is a workforce crisis in the health service that is now impacting on services.
He said the SNP made promises before elections in 2015 and 2016 that services would be safe that have not been delivered.
Mr Sarwar said: “This isn’t just a problem in one health board, there are cuts of services across Scotland. Just one example of that is the chronic shortage of staff in our children’s wards being closed in Glasgow, Paisley and Livingston.”
Labour said there are children’s ward closures in the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow and at the Royal Alexandra in Paisley.
It also warns of staffing shortages leading to problems in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire as well as bed blocking as a result of staff shortages in the care home sector.
Mr Sarwar added there is a workforce crisis that has left staff overworked, undervalued, under-resources and also underpaid.
He said: “This is now directly impacting on NHS services and patient care too.
“Over recent weeks in particular we have seen hospital services being cut and wards being forced to close due to a shortage of staff. “
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