The health secretary has now revealed that a new NHS national treatment centre (NTC) in Aberdeen will only be built if funding comes from the Treasury in the Autumn Budget – despite announcing the proposals almost four years ago.
North East MSP Liam Kerr described the update as “disgraceful”, warning that North East patients and exhausted staff were paying the price for the government’s botched NTC plan.
Neil Gray’s announcement comes as proposals to build national treatment centres in Aberdeen, Ayr, Cumbernauld, Livingston and Perth were put on hold in February last year due to funding problems.
Construction on the Aberdeen facility was due to begin back in March this year, with the NTC opening its doors to patients in May 2027.
The announcement follows yesterday’s Audit Scotland report, warning that NHS Grampian will not be able to balance its finances without big changes to health and social care for patients across the North East.
In the hard-hitting report, Scotland’s top watchdog said current funding levels are unsustainable, changes to the local population require a “fundamental” transformation in service delivery, and hospital occupancy in Grampian is regularly beyond capacity.
In his response to Mr Kerr’s question on the future of Aberdeen’s NTC, SNP health secretary Neil Gray admitted: “There is currently a pause other than those areas that are currently in development, or those set out under ministerial priority.
“However, we await the Treasury and the Chancellor’s budget statement later this month where I remain in hope that we might see an investment in our economy that would come from increased capital investment.”
Afterwards, Scottish Conservative North East MSP Liam Kerr said: “Almost two years after the Scottish Government paused these plans and four years after they were announced, it’s disgraceful that Neil Gray now wants to play a blame game over funding that is affecting people’s lives.
“The health secretary’s announcement will not only impact patients, but it’s a hammer blow to staff who are absolutely exhausted and are leaving the NHS because they have no confidence in the workload improving.
“This is another appalling case of SNP financial mismanagement that is leading to vital building projects in the North East being stopped.
“Neil Gray must stop the excuses, release the pause button, and finally give the go-ahead to Aberdeen’s national treatment centre.”
