The ability of the national Health Service (NHS) to deliver any kind of quality health care has been attacked as a report reveals that under Labour control (via London) that waiting times had worsened, with the three-month target for in-patient or day cases slipping 2.5% and the nine-week target for outpatients down almost 10%. Waiting lists have grown by more than 16,000.

Shadow health minister Ms Sturgeon said: "The NHS is shrinking under Labour. These figures show that by any measure, Scottish hospitals are doing less than when Labour took power in the Scottish Executive."