AS the celebrated American war general George S. Patton once said, “a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

I was reminded of this quote when reading about the latest issue affecting NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

In order to ensure anaesthetist cover at the Beatson and Gartnavel, the health board is forking out £1,500 a day for an on-call consultant and a room at the nearby Pond Hotel.

Whether the doctor is actually called in or not, it doesn’t matter, the NHS is still on the hook.

At a time when the health service is strapped for cash, a weekly bill of more than £10,000 is quite an incredible cost to bear.

And what makes matters worse, is that health professionals raised the alarm months ago.

In May, the Health Secretary received a letter from 86 medics advising that the restructuring of NHS services in Glasgow would leave the Beatson short of anaesthetic cover.

The signatories – which included 56 professors and over 20 speciality trainees in oncology – couldn’t have been clearer, “the out of hours cover proposed is a risk to patient safety.”

The letter told Shona Robison that in September last year it was decided 24/7 anaesthetic cover was a minimum requirement for the cancer centre and that a report outlining how this was to be provided would be ready by the end of the year.

Inexplicably, that report was four months late and the health board has confirmed that it is still “working to put in place a long term sustainable alterative” – hence the £1,500 a night bill.

All these cheques add up.

Taken together, the out of hours cover in place would cost the equivalent of £300,000 per year.

That's hundreds of thousands of pounds that the health board now can't spend on medicines, operations or nurses' wages.

As a precedent this is a dangerous one to set and I’ve called on the Scottish Government to look into this matter urgently.

Everyone understands that healthcare in Glasgow is changing and, in the long run, changing for the better. But proper planning is important so that the changes run smoothly.

Here’s where the words of General Patton ring true.

For if the powers that be had paid proper attention to the concerns of health professionals, then this ludicrous situation would never have arisen in the first place.

Only the Scottish Government and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde can explain why this didn't happen.

But the end result is clear enough – money being diverted away from other services to fix this mistake.

It’s really isn't good enough and the people of Glasgow deserve better.

The SNP don’t want to talk about this.

I've seen more of their elected representatives complain about the new Southern General being named after the Queen, than I've seen them raise some of the real patient care issues at the site itself.

The complacency is staggering and just won’t cut it.

Whether it’s missed A&E targets or delayed children’s hearing tests, the new hospital has encountered its fair share of difficulties.

It will be a fantastic facility when it's properly up and running.

But working through these problems must be the priority.

It’s what patients, staff and the wider public demand and it’s what the Scottish Government must deliver.