DOUGLAS Ross has been urged to "come clean" on £600 million of cuts that is the equivalent of the removal of 15,000 nurses and midwives.

The SNP have challenged the Scottish Tory leader to explain which frontline NHS services would be cut under the move after Ross said his party would cut from "other parts of the NHS" to fund his manifesto commitments.

The Conservatives' 55-page document, which was accompanied by costings for all policies excluding where the funding for the backlog injection would come from, laid out the Tories’ offering if the party were to take the reins of government on May 6.

The cuts amount to: 

  • 15,000 WTE qualified nurses and midwives - almost a quarter of the total 46,000 WTE workforce
  • 25% of the total budget for medicines and medicinal supplies (approx £2.4billion)
  • 6% of the combined staff and medicines budget for NHS Scotland

On top of that, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has confirmed that the Tory manifesto underfunds all of their pledges on the NHS by up to £1bn. 

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon kicks off SNP campaign with vow to protect Scotland's NHS

Nicola Sturgeon has said the Scottish Government will invest £300m to deliver a 4% pay rise for more than 154,000 NHS staff.

The pay offer, backdated to December, will see those on salaries below £25,000 receive increases of more than £1000.

It will mean that a porter at the top of pay band two, a healthcare assistant at the top of band three, a nurse at the top of band five, and a paramedic at the top of band six will all be around £2000 better off than their counterparts in England in 2021-22.

The Greens manifesto includes proposals to allocate 10% of the frontline health spend to mental health by 2026, invest an additional £161 million into child and adolescent mental health services, and expand access to cognitive behavioural therapy and social prescribing.

READ MORE: Greens manifesto to include pledge to spend more on mental health support

Shirley-Anne Somerville said: "Douglas Ross must come clean on which NHS Scotland services would face the chop under Tory plans for a staggering £600m of cuts.

“The Tories tried to pull the wool over Scotland's eyes, claiming £600m of additional investment, only to have to admit their plans involve £600m of so-called efficiencies 'from other parts of the NHS'.

"Simply put the Tory plan is to ask the NHS to do more with less.

“Their cuts plan is the equivalent of 15,000 qualified nurses and midwives, or a quarter of the total budget for medicine.

"The Tory threat to Scotland's NHS is growing. Boris Johnson is underfunding the NHS in England and Brexit trade deals could see an increase in creeping privatisation. The Tories simply cannot be trusted with our NHS."

The Scottish Tories have not responded to The National's request for comment.