Kenny Gibson: Money should be spent where it is needed

Nationalist Glasgow list MSP, Kenny Gibson, said Scottish parliamentary answers received in the past month revealed a massive diversion of funds.

Mr Gibson also cast doubt on Health Minister Susan Deacon's pledge that patients were the priority in spending considerations.

He said: "Can we believe the promises of the health minister?

"We've already seen over the last five years, with the connivance of the Scottish Executive, �165m which was allocated for desperately needed hospital equipment has been transferred into plugging budget gaps in hospitals across Scotland.

"We think that's absolutely outrageous and that money should have been spent where it is needed."

Professor Jamie Weir, chairman of the Royal College of Radiologists in Scotland, said he could not comment on the SNP allegation but stressed that equipment used by colleagues was in an often poor state.

Capital money

He said: "In Aberdeen, we're actually getting some parts from a Glasgow scrapyard dealer to be able to keep parts of our equipment going and that's not an exaggeration.

"The manufacturers will, in fact, not replace parts, because they do not hold spare parts for more than 10 to 12 years and a lot of equipment around the country is 17 to 20 years old."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said stringent new regulations were introduced in April to stop the transfer of capital money to balance the books.

He said the practice has now been banned completely and this meant money allocated for new equipment could not be spent elsewhere.