The Scottish Government's plan for ramping up under-pressure NHS services has been deemed to be "not working" .
Paisley politician Neil Bibby said the SNP's recovery blueprint for the health service had failed even before the rise of the Omicron variant.
His remarks came as he pressed Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to reverse cuts to bed numbers at Paisley's struggling Royal Alexandra Hospital - which has faced losing one in five beds over the past decade.
Labour's Neil said: "The entire health and social care system is under enormous pressure. The Scottish Government’s Recovery Plan for the NHS was not working, even before the Omicron variant came to Scotland.
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"The only way to tackle delayed discharges and get our NHS back on a sound footing is to urgently create new capacity. The Health Secretary should reverse cuts to bed numbers in hospitals and do more to help people get care and support throughout the system."
He added: "It makes no sense to cut bed numbers when the NHS needs new capacity or to resist calls to boost bed numbers when the country is in the grip of a pandemic."
We revealed in October how NHS figures show that the number of available beds at the Corsebar Road site have dropped from 797 in 2011 to 646.
Now West of Scotland MSP Neil has urged the Health Secretary to ramp up reverse cuts and help the NHS.
His remarks come as the Royal College of Emergency Medicine revealed that 1000 more hospital beds are needed to ensure the health service recovers from the pandemic, while figures show that 1300 beds have been slashed across Scotland in the last decade.
During a Holyrood exchange, the politician pressed Humza Yousaf for answers, saying: "Under the present Government, 1,300 beds have been cut over the past ten years.
"That is one-in-six beds at the Inverclyde Royal hospital and one-in-five at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley. Before the winter crisis struck, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that Scotland needed 1,000 extra beds.
"Is it the Government’s intention to reverse the cuts to bed numbers? If so, by how much, and when?"
The Health Secretary - who vowed last month to visit the RAH to hear the concerns of staff leaders who had previously described a "chronic shortage" of personnel - after he was pressed by Mr Bibby, defended his government's record on the NHS, saying: "This Government has an impeccable record in ensuring that the NHS is well resourced. We will no doubt hear more about that in the budget statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy this afternoon. We have record staffing under this Government and the highest-paid staff anywhere in the United Kingdom.
"Regarding beds, the Government’s determination, both pre-covid and on a continuing basis, is that patients are treated close to their home, in the community, as best as they possibly can be. That means a reduction in the number of beds in our hospitals. We are desperately trying to work with local authorities, health boards and health and social care partnerships to move from our acute sites people who can be clinically and safely discharged into our community and to reduce the number of delayed discharges. If we do that, we free up hospital beds."
The Health Secretary added: "I spoke this morning to Jane Grant, chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. She made the offer that, if any member—including Neil Bibby, I am sure—wishes to speak to her about any of the pressures in the board’s acute sites, including the RAH, she would be happy to speak to them."
Union leaders told in October how staff shortages were causing problems at the RAH, which has faced a catalogue of challenges since summer, including repeated failures to meet the Scottish Government's own A&E waiting times targets - including notching up the second worst figures in Scotland recently.
Mr Yousaf has not yet revealed when he intends to visit the RAH site.
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