Cancer treatment services in Scotland have been compared to "a budget airline" as waiting times continue to rise.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie read out correspondence from a consultant today who warned NHS bosses on the country's largest health board were left "firefighting".
It comes after emails leaked to a respected medical journal warned the flagship Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow was "stretched to the limits of endurance".
READ MORE : Nicola Sturgeon told to 'focus on what really matters'
Internal communications between senior staff at the clinic - which serves 2.8 million people - complained of poor staffing levels and ageing equipment.
Speaking at First Minister's Questions, Baillie said: "The causes of this predate the pandemic.
"This is what one consultant oncologist had to say to me: 'Due to the lack of staff, rundown equipment, failure to plan for the future - this current situation of rationing cancer care was entirely predictable'.
"He went on: 'The NHS and cancer care is run like a budget airline. And NHS Greater Glasgow spends more time firefighting than forward thinking'".
Baillie continued: "First Minister, your government is in charge of the NHS in Scotland. You have been warned again and again by clinicians, by patients, and by politicians, but you simply don't listen."
Nicola Sturgeon responded: "I know how hard consultants are working and I take comments from them very seriously. The point, that is also important to make, is NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have confirmed there are no plans to stop treatments early or interrupt schedules.
"Any service delivery suggestions that were detrimental to patients were immediately rejected."
The First Minister added: "We are taking these issues seriously and will continue to do so. The final point I will make is, since this government took office there has been more than a 90 per cent increase in consultant oncologists working within the NHS.
"That is an indication of the priorities we attach to these services."
Anas Sarwar had earlier raised the number of Scots who had not started cancer treatment within the 62-day waiting time target.
The Scottish Labour leader said: "Since the election campaign last year, when Nicola Sturgeon made a promise to focus on covid recovery and cancer catch-up, over 3,000 cancer patients have not started treatment on time.
"This problem predates the pandemic. In the eight years Nicola Sturgeon has been First Minister she has never met the 62-day treatment standard. 78,310 patients have already waited more than the six-week standard."
He added: "Today, the front of the Daily Record has nurses warning that working on hospital wards is like 'hell on earth'. The recovery hasn’t even started yet. In fact things have got worse.
"Instead, haven’t we gone back to the divisive Nicola Sturgeon who is now spending seven days a week, sometimes what feels like 24 hours a day, focusing on her priority of dividing our country, rather than rebuilding it."
The First Minister shot back: "It's perhaps Anas Sarwar who has lost a bit of focus. In the period he is talking about, what he seems to want to forget is there have been three further waves of a pandemic.
"We have seen staff absences, for example, impacting on the performance of the NHS."
The SNP leader added: "He wants to back up the Conservatives on this point. I want to free Scotland from the Conservatives.
"Because the worse thing that could ever happen to the NHS is to continue to have a Conservative government cutting the budgets of this parliament. That's why having the independence is good for country, including our NHS."
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