Following recent figures showing a worrying rise in norovirus, with 9 wards forced to close locally due to the bug, local MSP Cathy Jamieson has questioned the SNO Government's commitment to tackling hospital acquired infections.

Figures in the Scottish Budget, forced through Parliament last week despite Labour opposition, show that the SNP government plans to spend more on consultants’ bonuses next year than on tackling hospital acquired infections. 

The SNP budget proposes £30 million pounds for bonuses and just £21.5 million to tackle MRSA and C-Diff. Consultants’ salaries can top £100,000 and the top hundred can expect bonuses of £32,000 to £76,000 in addition.
 
Cathy said:
 
"I am astonished that the Scottish Government has got their priorities so badly wrong. The Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon needs to have a hard think about what is really important and start putting patients first.
 
“It is simply impossible to understand why more money is being spent on a bonus scheme for high earning hospital consultants than tackling hospital superbugs like C. Difficile and MRSA.  The Government have failed to get to grips with hospital cleanliness, and local patients are paying the price.
 
"Labour has put forward a workable 15-point plan for tackling hospital superbugs, which was drawn up with assistance from Britain’s leading expert in infection control Professor Hugh Pennington.  Yet the SNP Government has failed to make this issue a priority.”