THE First Minister accused the Scottish Tory leader of “insulting people’s intelligence” by suggesting the Covid-19 pandemic hadn’t had an extreme impact on Scotland’s NHS service during today’s FMQs session.

In Holyrood, Douglas Ross raised a number of recent problems in the NHS and accused ministers of “scrambling about putting on sticking plasters instead of planning”.

The Moray MP said Nicola Sturgeon’s government is “only reacting when disaster strikes” and criticised ministers for pointing out that similar challenges exist in the rest of the UK’s health services.

The First Minister conceded this week that the health service is dealing with “crisis conditions as a result of a global pandemic”, with firefighters and the armed forces drafted in to help the struggling Scottish Ambulance Service.

A&E waiting times have also dropped, with 71.% of people visiting the service up to September 12 being seen in four hours compared to 74.6% the week before.

In the Scottish Parliament this afternoon Ross accused Sturgeon of using the Covid-19 pandemic as a shield, claiming the issues are caused by longer term problems in the NHS.

After Sturgeon pointed out the work that Scottish ministers are doing to tackle the current problems, and data showing A&E consultants had increased by 242% under the government, Ross accused her of dismissing the situation.

The First Minister argued that nobody listening would have heard her response as a dismissal, adding that waiting times aren’t good enough. Ross also asked Sturgeon why fewer women had come forward for cervical screening, to which she explained the public health minister had given statements on this and work is being done, but acknowledged that there are “wider issues” with encouraging women to get checked.

Despite these responses Ross concluded his time by asking the First Minister if it’s the case that the pandemic has “exposed” the Scottish Government’s “poor record” of running the NHS.

The First Minister rose to her feet, telling Holyrood: “Firstly I think anybody in this Chamber who stands up and tries to pretend that the pandemic has not had an extremely significant impact on all of this is insulting people’s intelligence, and I think actually lacking any credibility.”

She added that it is important that governments do respond, adapt and are flexible during crisis situations. “I make no apology for making sure that where there is a need we provide extra funding, where there is a need we are taking new initiatives to help the health service cope with what is an unprecedented set of circumstances.”

Sturgeon said while it’s true there were problems before the pandemic, Ross is not looking at the progress made before Covid hit.

“If you take the waiting times improvement plan, published back in October 2018, if you look at outpatients – the number of outpatients waiting for their first appointment had reduced by 21% in the 18 months up to March 2020, just before the pandemic struck. The numbers who were waiting over 12 weeks had fallen by over 32%. The number of patients waiting more than six weeks for a key diagnostic test had reduced by over 25%/. There were more inpatient treatments being offered and patients being seen.

“The point I’m making here, presiding officer, is yes there were challenges. Those challenges were being addressed. Real progress was being made.”

Ross heckled the First Minister, saying “no they weren’t”. She scoffed and told him: “I’ve just given him the evidence of the facts, for the fact that they were.”

Sturgeon concluded her response by arguing the world is still in a global pandemic which is creating “extreme” circumstances for the NHS, and her government will focus on tackling these issues “each and every single day”.