A Scottish Government minister has admitted using private healthcare at a time the NHS is struggling to meet demand. Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Greens, revealed the perk when publishing her personal tax returns this week.
It comes at a time thousands of Scots face record waiting times at A&E departments and massive backlogs for non-emergency treatments. The tax returns of Slater and her co-leader Patrick Harvie were quietly published online on Tuesday evening after Nicola Sturgeon publicly shared hers the day before.
The Lothians MSP joined the government in 2021 as minister for the circular economy after a power-sharing deal was signed between the SNP and the Greens. Slater worked as an engineer before entering politics and received private healthcare through her job with the renewable energy firm Orbital Marine Power.
A Greens spokesman said: "Prior to becoming an MSP, Lorna Slater was an engineer working on an international tidal energy project. Her employer provided her with medical insurance, as is common in such professions. She no longer receives this benefit, and her income comes from her MSP and Ministerial salary.
"On becoming an MSP, Lorna Slater continued with her health insurance policy, paid for by herself. Lorna has a complex medical history, and this was a personal decision based on her particular situation."
Slater told the Herald: "That was a benefit I received as part of my previous employment. I have a complex medical history so I still continue to pay into my medical insurance."
Tory MSP Annie Wells said: "While everyone is entitled to use private healthcare if they have the means, Lorna Slater is a member of a government that has brought Scotland’s NHS to its knees, so it will jar with ordinary Scots that she is able to bypass the queues for treatment that they are forced to endure. Her decision also smacks of hypocrisy given the Scottish Greens’ hostility to private enterprise and the concept of economic growth."
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