SCOTS Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said she was "absolutely appalled" to receive an NHS leaflet containing an "ambulance-chasing" advert during a hospital visit.
The incident occurred when the MSP visited Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency department last week.
Ms Davidson told a radio show she was given a patient advice leaflet which carried an advert for a personal injury lawyer.
She said: "On the back page there is a full-page advertisement that reads, 'Have you been injured? You may be able to claim compensation. There is no shame in making an honest claim - ask about no-win, no-fee'. I was appalled by this. I can't believe that if you go to a hospital, they give you literature telling you how to sue."
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was also on the show, said she "did not like the sound of it either" and would refer it to the health secretary. She said she was seeing the leaflet for the first time, and added: "On first glance, it looks a little bit odd."
Davidson was hurt when she fell getting out of a bath in an Edinburgh hotel room.
Earlier this year figures showed medical negligence payouts have cost the NHS in Scotland £223.3 million over the past six years.
Lyn McDonald, site director of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, said: "We have a historical contract with a firm to provide our discharge leaflets at no cost, allowing us to spend the money saved on other aspects of patient care." She added that the hospital does: "not intend to have this type of arrangement in the future."
A Scottish Government spokesman said while it is an issue ultimately for NHS boards in Scotland, "clearly this kind of advertisement is not appropriate for a patient information leaflet".
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 hereComments are closed on this article