General X-Ray Room in the Emergency Department at the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People Edinburgh
PATIENTS in Scotland’s hospitals are reliant on decades-old equipment thanks to the SNP government, Scottish Labour has charged.
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “Patients might be forgiven for thinking they’re in the Scottish remake of Back to the Future when they learn how old the machines providing vital medical information actually are.
“Sadly, under the incompetent SNP, our crumbling NHS is otherwise unrecognisable from the mid-2000s, when patients could walk in the door expecting to be seen.”
Freedom of information requests by Labour to Scotland’s 14 health boards revealed that NHS Grampian was using a 15-year-old MRI scanner, while one of its X-ray machines is 27 years old.
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde was using six MRI scanners over a decade old, of which three were over 15 and one had 18 years in service.
The board also had 26 X-ray machines more than a decade old, including 21 more than 15 years old, while NHS Tayside had an MRI scanner, a CT scanner, and two X-ray machines over 15 years old.
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The 2025-2026 Scottish Budget provides a record £21 billion for Health & Social Care, including £16.2 billion for NHS Boards to deliver key services and £200 million to help reduce waiting times and improve capacity.”
