The alarm bells sounding in the North Lanarkshire Health Board can be heard across the NHS in Scotland.
The shocking truth is that NHS Lanarkshire is facing a £70million budget black hole after declaring a staffing and bed shortage crisis. The board has issued a “code black” alert, which means quite simply that 600,000 people are in danger of not having their health needs met by the NHS.
Lanarkshire is one of Scotland’s biggest health boards, it cannot be allowed to fail. It is likely the situation is the tip of a very large NHS iceberg as the service strains under the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic and increasing day to day costs. Part of the reason the health board claims to find itself in trouble is that it received far less Covid cash support than it expected.
The Scottish Government was handed funds to deal with the Covid crisis, as were other parts of the UK, but there has not been enough transparency on where and how that cash was spent.
Did it receive enough money to cope with the added pressure our health boards were placed under due to Covid? Or has the money just been badly spent? These are questions that need to be answered.
But the immediate challenge for Health Secretary Humza Yousaf regarding NHS Lanarkshire is the delivery of an emergency funding package to see the health board through this crisis. The Scottish Government is under the same inflationary pressures as every other organisation but the health of the nation and the NHS has to be the number one priority.
No forgiveness
David Haines’s widow has “no forgiveness” for the jailed member of the Isis terror group involved in the brutal murder of her husband.
Dragana acknowledged the life sentence handed out to El Shafee Elsheikh in an American court served the purposes of justice. But who can blame her for not budging an inch to forgive any of the so-called “Beatles” who were responsible for unspeakable acts on behalf of Islamic State?
Nothing Elsheikh says or does will redeem him in Dragana’s eyes. She has suffered too much. Dragana says her family will not be at peace until they know where David’s remains can be found and he is brought home.
If Elsheikh had any shred of decency, he would let them know where David is and help give a grieving family closure.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
