Jump to content

 

 

Drug death record - Damning Indictment of SNP policy


Recommended Posts

Ive just watched Scotland's health  minister being interviewed about these drug deaths and I have never heard a more useless man in all my life talk about clueless 

Edited by compo
Link to post
Share on other sites

La Sturgeon does not even stay to listen, and offer support, to her beleaguered Minister. 

That indicates something, surely;  not confidence in him, and, perhaps, a lack of concern for the issue....

Of course, the blame lies squarely somewhere else, per Ms Allison Thewliss, MP (no, me neither). 

 

Of course, too, if FitzPatrick resigns, or is replaced, who is the next rank cab off the rank?

 

Joe FitzPatrick faces calls to resign over drug-death data

Conor Riordan

Wednesday December 16 2020, 12.01am, The Times

Joe FitzPatrick said the government was doing “everything in its power”

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/joe-fitzpatrick-faces-calls-to-resign-over-public-health-tragedy-6cjgfhph7

 

Scotland’s public health minister has been urged to resign after the country saw another record-high year for drug-related deaths.

 

Joe FitzPatrick came under pressure from Monica Lennon, the Scottish Labour Party’s health spokeswoman. She said: “The public needs to have confidence in the public health minister to lead us out of this human rights tragedy — these shocking statistics and his woeful response give us none.

“Joe FitzPatrick has tried his best but it’s not good enough. It’s time to make way for fresh leadership.”

 

Her call was echoed by a party colleague, Neil Findlay, an MSP, who also described Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to leave the Holyrood chamber before Mr FitzPatrick’s ministerial statement as a “disgrace”.

 

Heroin and morphine were involved in more deaths than in any previous year — at 645 — and more than half of the total. Methadone was involved in 560 fatalities, benzodiazepines of any form — street and prescription — in 999, and cocaine in 365.

A total of 404 deaths were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, 163 in Lanarkshire, 155 in Lothian, 118 in Tayside and 108 in Ayrshire and Arran. Nearly 70 per cent of the deaths were men and more than two thirds were between 35 and 54.

 

Opposition politicians and charities called for more action to stop the deaths, saying each could have been prevented.

 

Speaking at Holyrood, Mr FitzPatrick said: “I think in the last two years we have taken considerable action to improve the [drug support] service. The idea that I am not listening is just not factual.

“It is one of the things I have taken great care to do since being appointed to this post, to listen to people across Scotland with lived and living experience and those on the front line in this public health emergency.”

In response to Ms Lennon’s calls for him to quit, he said: “I have heard her views, fortunately I have great confidence that across Scotland many of the people who are working at the front end of this public health emergency take a different view and continue to work really hard to turn this around. These figures are a tragedy. I think I will leave it there.”

 

Earlier he had said that the Scottish government was doing “everything in its powers” to tackle drug deaths.

Mr FitzPatrick has also promised to continue to urge the government in Westminster to change the law to legalise supervised drug consumption facilities or devolve the necessary powers to Scotland, something which it has repeatedly ruled out.

 

Speaking in the Commons, Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP, said: “The UK government says Scotland will not be permitted, not allowed, not trusted to take further action to prevent the deaths of our citizens.

“Scotland accepts responsibility in the areas where we can act and we know we must do more, though we do this with our hands tied behind our back.”

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.