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Mr Salmond
should get someone to check his facts for him before he goes around trying
to undermine confidence in the NHS.
His remarks betrayed ignorance of the NHS's record in
North Ayrshire and a lack of respect for the people who have delivered
some excellent outcomes".
Local MSP, Allan Wilson,
has slammed the SNP leader Alex Salmond for "ill-informed gloom and doom"
about the National Health Service during his visit to the Garnock Valley
last week.
Mr Wilson said; "Mr Salmond should get someone to check his facts for him
before he goes around trying to undermine confidence in the NHS. His remarks
betrayed ignorance of the NHS's record in North Ayrshire and a lack of
respect for the people who have delivered some excellent outcomes".
Far from being a service in retreat or dominated by closures, said Mr
Wilson, the record of the NHS in North Ayrshire in recent years was "second
to none" in cutting waiting lists, introducing new services and creating
record levels of investment.
Mr Wilson said; "If Mr Salmond had checked his facts, he would have found
that the very building he was speaking in, Radio City, benefited from NHS
investment and partnership working among people who actually care about this
community.
"He would have found out that planning permission exists for a £1.6 million
expansion of Kilbirnie's Health Centre to enable our five GPs to deliver an
extended range of services.
"If he had gone over the hill to Largs, he would have found work about to
start on a £4.7 million resources centre again aimed at extending the range
of services provided locally by GPs, district nurses and other community
services. Or if he had time to take the ferry to Millport he would have
found yet another new and exciting project to establish single-site
provision of NHS services on the island - far beyond what it has ever had
before".
Mr Wilson added: "The SNP's whole mentality depends on persuading people
that everything happening in Scotland is awful and a failure. They cannot
afford to acknowledge the reality but in talking Scotland down they also
talk down the efforts of all the people who have contributed to the
achievement of these projects".
He said that Mr Salmond's remarks about Public Private Partnerships also
ignored the North Ayrshire reality. "Without PPP, he said, "we would not
have the access to the capital needed to finance these local investments.
This would mean these projects would go in a long queue for funding and
local services would be starved of investment That is a simple economic fact
of life and the SNP are, as usual, engaging in fantasy economics in
suggesting otherwise."
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