Conservative Candidate for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine today slammed the SNP upon news that staff at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary were having to turn away patients from A&E because it was too busy. On hearing the news that patients were being redirected from the hospital and that procedures were being postponed, Alexander said:

‘This is a health board that has not had its troubles to seek, and these revelations worsen that picture. The idea of patients being turned away from hospital doors is incredible, and shows just how ill-equipped the Scottish Government manages to be every winter.

This is an extremely shabby way to treat patients, and for many this will have been the final straw. The health secretary must examine the goings on today as a matter of urgency, to ensure they are not repeated in future.

We know the population is increasing and ageing, that’s been the trend for some time, and there is no excuse for the SNP to be continually caught out by this.’