Hansard

I am taking an approach to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital that is about working to build public confidence and trust in the operation of the hospital. That is why representatives of the families who have suffered are members of the public oversight group that is looking at these very issues. It was my request that they be on that group, which is independently co-chaired by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie to make sure that there is openness. The first meeting of the group took place on 11 March. The group is able to explore all the safety issues, and I reiterate my confidence in the safety of the hospital.

What lies at the heart of Mr Sarwar’s point is a misconstruing of what the Government has done and a deliberate attempt to mislead and misrepresent the Government’s position. I come back to what I said in my answer to his first question. Because of the experience at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital, the Government established a public inquiry. Because of the concern of my late colleague Jeane Freeman, there was a delay to the opening of the Edinburgh children’s hospital until the issues were addressed. There is a delay to the Baird and the ANCHOR because we are prioritising patient safety. That is the absolute opposite of what Mr Sarwar has put to the Parliament today.

I think that people in Scotland will be pretty sceptical about the things that Mr Sarwar says in here and the commitments that he gives, because we saw the real side of Mr Sarwar yesterday in his flippant and disrespectful comments about those in our society who suffer strokes. Mr Sarwar should do the decent thing and apologise with his own words.