Angela Constance has been accused of covering up the collapse of a £2billion replacement hospital as it can be revealed she privately briefed John Swinney about its impending failure.
asserted
she → accuse → failure
Documents obtained by the Scottish Mail on Sunday show the health minister outlined how plans for the new Monklands Hospital were doomed due to spiralling costs.
asserted
plans → obtain → costs
The private report to the First Minister also contains details that have not been shared with MSPs or the public.
asserted
that → contain → MSPs
These include worrying statements that the much-needed facility is unlikely to open before 2031 and will be smaller and have fewer services than originally planned.
asserted
facility → include → services
It also shows the SNP-led administration has a new timeline of key dates in its reworked plans for the scaled-down hospital.
asserted
administration → show → hospital
However, it has been accused of trying to keep the public and MSPs in the dark by refusing to disclose these details – going as far as to redact them in the documents obtained by this paper.
asserted
it → accuse → paper
Health Secretary Angela Constance admitted the hospital may not finish in this parliament
The confidential briefing on the Monklands Replacement Project was sent to Mr Swinney on June 18, a week before Ms Constance announced to the public that the scheme was to be scrapped and redrawn.
uncertain
scheme → admit → public
It is the latest development in a scandal that started when Ms Constance chose to wait until 20 minutes before parliament ended for the summer holidays on June 25 to announce the £2billion project would be halted.
asserted
project → start → June
As previously revealed by the MoS, SNP ministers were told in March that the hospital should not proceed as planned, yet the party touted it as a major achievement during the subsequent Holyrood election campaign.
asserted
party → reveal → campaign
Then-health secretary Neil Gray was even joined by Mr Swinney at the site of the new hospital, posing for photos and taking videos boasting about its progress for social media, despite having been copied into emails warning the project was flawed.
Labour’s health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie is among MSPs to have repeatedly asked Ms Constance about a timescale for completion of the revised Monklands project.
asserted
spokeswoman → join → project
Reacting to our revelations, she said: ‘It is shocking that senior SNP figures, including John Swinney, appear to have intentionally kept the public in the dark about the Monklands hospital.
‘
asserted
figures → react → hospital
That this document also sets out a timeline – and yet the dates were redacted and ministers declined to reveal them when asked directly in parliament – paints a very murky picture, one which looks like a cover-up.
asserted
which → set → up
‘It is shameful that the SNP government would attempt to withhold this information from the public simply to manage their own party’s reputation.
asserted
government → attempt → reputation
It is now crucial that they come to Parliament and set the record straight.
asserted
they → come → record
‘The public has a right to know when the Monklands Project is due to be completed, and why ministers have attempted to keep this information a secret.’
asserted
ministers → have → information
In Ms Constance’s briefing, a clear timescale has been set out for delivering the new hospital.
asserted
timescale → set → hospital
However, officials have redacted the majority of the information about when construction would begin, when it would end and when the hospital will open.
asserted
hospital → redact → information
The health secretary stated: ‘The previous commitment to deliver a replacement within this parliamentary term is highly ambitious under the current model.
asserted
commitment → state → model
Even under a reseat approach, delivery within the term remains challenging.’
asserted
delivery → remain → term
She said ministers had to decide ‘which services will be delivered from a smaller, redesigned Monklands hospital and how services currently provided…will be reconfigured across the wider system’ and added: ‘Without firm decisions….there is a significant risk that design development is delayed, scope remains unstable and the construction date slips beyond 2028.’
Neil Gray visited the site of the new hospital during the election campaign to boast about it
asserted
Gray → say → it
Ms Constance advised Mr Swinney that the government should ‘reframe’ the new hospital project and use it ‘as an exemplar of an integrated, whole-system…approach that covers acute hospital services, community health sub, diagnostics and digital care, all delivered across a network of regional services.’
asserted
that → advise → services
Campaigners said the project now risks becoming a ‘glorified A&E unit’ rather than the state-of-the-art healthcare facility they were promised more than a decade ago.
asserted
they → say → facility
Sophia Coyle, an independent councillor in North Lanarkshire and chairwoman of the ‘Stand Up For Monklands campaign, said: ‘I’m absolutely disgusted to read this proposal, and disgusted at the SNP government.
asserted
I → stand → government
‘From the sounds of it, this looks as though the SNP is planning to give us a glorified A&E unit - far from the state-of-the-art hospital that was promised, and they want to use us a guinea pig for their care plans.
asserted
they → look → plans
It’s completely unacceptable, and we need the truth from the government about what exactly they are planning and what services they are planning to remove.
asserted
they → ’ → services
‘We’ve waited too long and the current Monklands is not in any state to last another five or more years.’
asserted
Monklands → wait → state
The SNP has previously stated it wants to move to a model of delivering more care outside of traditional hospital settings, through walk-in clinics and community hubs.
asserted
it → state → clinics
According to Ms Constance’s briefing, the Monklands replacement hospital will play a key role in showing how the new model will work.
uncertain
model → accord → role
Scottish Conservative MSP for Central Scotland Meghan Gallacher said: ‘This is more damning evidence that SNP ministers knew far more about the plans to shelve a new Monklands than they were prepared to tell the public.
asserted
they → say → public
‘Patients were kept in the dark while ministers sat on a plan showing the initial replacement was unlikely to be delivered and would instead result in a smaller hospital with fewer services.
asserted
replacement → keep → services
‘John Swinney and Angela Constance now have serious questions to answer about what they knew, when they knew it and why patients were not given the full truth by the secretive SNP.’
asserted
patients → have → SNP
The Scottish Government refused to say when it aimed to open the new hospital, or explain why it has concealed the information from the public.
asserted
it → refuse → public
A spokeswoman said the ‘position was made clear in the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care’s statement on 25 June, and that position has not changed.
asserted
position → say → June
She added: ‘A new hospital will be delivered on the Wester Moffat site.
asserted
hospital → add → site
The redesign is not about downgrading services; it is to ensure a credible and affordable proposal which brings value for money for the public purse and delivers high-quality care for the people of Lanarkshire.
asserted
which → downgrade → Lanarkshire
The redesign is expected to be presented to Ministers for review in 2027 with the intention for construction to begin as early as possible in 2028.
asserted
construction → expect → 2028
‘We recognise the challenges facing staff in the existing Monklands site and will be providing additional financial support to NHS Lanarkshire to maintain safe and effective services while revised plans for a new Monklands Hospital are developed.’
asserted
plans → recognise → Hospital
The Aporia
