The Tories have accused the Scottish Government of "inertia and listlessness" in tackling the staffing "crisis" in the NHS.
Party health spokesman Donald Cameron used a debate at Holyrood to call for urgent action to tackle staffing shortages.
He said the hard work of NHS employees was "under threat" as a result of a lack of planning to cope with an ageing workforce, GP shortages and the cost of temporary cover.
READ MORE: UK's no Brexit border promise in Ireland may not apply to independent Scotland, experts claim
Mr Cameron told MSPs: "It has become clear that the NHS workforce is overstretched and struggling to meet ever-increasing demands on frontline services.
"I have no hesitation in condemning the sheer lethargy of the Scottish Government which has brought us to this point.
"Often in politics some of the most robust arguments we have are about stark, vigorous policy choices taken by a government for better or for worse, but not here.
"Despite the repeated warnings, there is no sign of vigour, instead, we have inertia, we have listlessness, we have a Scottish Government sleepwalking through this crisis."
He continued: "It's time for the SNP to take responsibility, and belatedly take action.
"Everyone in this parliament cares about our NHS but words are not enough now.
"The Scottish Government's programme for government was weak on short-staffing, weak on supporting primary care and weak on supporting our hard-working doctors, nurses, social care workers and other health professionals.
"Scotland deserves better and while the staffing requires immediate actions, there is a long-term aspect of this too.
"We have to create a sustainable NHS that is properly staffed over the next five years, but also over the next 25 years."
Health Secretary Shona Robison accused the Scottish Conservatives of double standards, pointing out the NHS in England faced similar problems.
She said: "We will point out the double standards of the Tories coming to this place, criticising our record on the NHS when the record of their own party in government in England is woeful to say the least.
"I could quote many, many organisations that are saying much more powerful words about the record of the Tory party in charge of the NHS in England.
"We only have to look at the junior doctors' strikes that have been happening in England compared to the constructive partnership relationship we have with our professions here north of the border."
Ms Robison added: "I want to be very clear about the record of this government on staff numbers.
"In Scotland we are better equipped to deliver services than we have ever been but, yes, there are challenges, absolutely."
Labour's Anas Sarwar said Scotland's NHS, and the staff and patients in it, were "being let down by this government and this cabinet secretary".
He told Ms Robison she was a better health secretary than her UK counterpart Jeremy Hunt, but added: "I hardly think being the second worst health secretary in the UK is much of a compliment.
Mr Sarwar insisted: "The crisis that we see in workforce planning has happened not despite this government but because of this government's record and decisions."
READ MORE: UK's no Brexit border promise in Ireland may not apply to independent Scotland, experts claim
He added: "After almost 10 years of a sticking-plaster approach we are seeing the consequences of this government - consequences on patient care and consequences for our overworked, undervalued and under-resourced NHS workforce.
"We know all is not well in our NHS. Today in Scotland there are massive numbers of vacancies across health boards, in both primary care and health boards the number of vacancies left unfilled is leading to expected standards of patients care being missed and it is getting worse.
"There are 2,500 nursing and midwivery vacancies in our NHS, going up not down. Within that, 300 mental health nurse vacancies, and that is meant to be a priority for this government.
"This is a direct result of decisions taken by this government. When Nicola Sturgeon was health secretary she actually cut training places for nurses and midwives, and this is coming back to haunt our hospitals."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel