Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, heath boards reported almost half a million work days were lost due to absences for stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. The number of days lost rose from around 355,200 to 417,700 over this period.

This comes as leading economist, Dr John McLaren of Scottish Trends has shown that the SNP’s planned rises in funding for the NHS are less than half those planned in England while cuts are planned to be 60% greater.

Once again, the SNP’s grandstanding on health has been exposed and both patients and staff are suffering.

Nicola Sturgeon needs to end her Indyref2 obsession and get back to the day job of fixing the mess her party has created in Scotland’s health service.

This news shows the mess the separatists are making in our public services. Only Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Conservatives have the ideas and the determination to stand up to the SNP’s abysmal record on health.

Cllr Alastair Redman