Following evidence from the Auditor General, Caroline Gardner, at the Scottish Parliament today, Liz Smith believes that the Health Minister must urgently clarify questions over the process that allowed charitable funds to be used for an IT project.
During her questioning, Caroline Gardner, claimed that both internal and external audits at the time flagged up issues over endowment funding, but were not acted upon. There were also questions about the role of outgoing NHS Tayside Finance director and concerns that NHS Board members couldn’t act impartially.
It was also revealed that Lesley McLay, NHS Tayside’s previous Chief Executive, has not resigned her post and is still on sick leave following the scandal.
Liz, is concerned that the Scottish Government is not working hard enough to bring transparency and fears that the investigation will fail to provide answers the public want.
Commenting Liz Smith MSP said:
“Today’s committee meeting outlined a whole raft of issues and questions for the Health Minister. Considering both the internal and external audits flagged up problems it seems incredible that no-one sought to act on these, especially the Scottish Government.
“There are also real questions over the impartiality of Board Members and the current employment status of the outgoing Chief Executive, Lesley McLay. These questions won’t go away and the Health Secretary can no longer claim that this is just a matter for OSCR.
“The whole structure of NHS Trust board membership needs to change, and it is incumbent on the Health Secretary to bring clarity and accountability to this situation.”