Tom Gordon

Scottish Political Editor

LABOUR would "bring back matron" to Scotland's A&E units to reduce lengthening waiting times and improve hygiene, Jim Murphy said last night.

Ahead of a shadow cabinet meeting on health in Glasgow tomorrow, the Scottish Labour leader said the idea was part of a five-point plan for the NHS which Labour would push in the general election, even though health is devolved.

He said the party also wanted an expert review of acute beds to reverse a fall in numbers since 2007; more hygiene checks in A&E; greater emphasis on best practice; and weekly waiting time statistics to ensure greater transparency.

"With three months to go to the general election, the SNP's A&E record is now going to be on the ballot paper because we're going to highlight their mistakes," he said.

Matrons were phased out of Scottish hospitals in the 1970s, although a modern version, the senior charge nurse, was re-introduced in 2008.

Labour said it wanted matrons, to be paid at one rung up the salary ladder from senior charge nurses, in each of the 32 A&E core sites.

They would be responsible for leadership for ward managers, nurses, midwives and other staff, as well as maintaining hygiene standards.

In another sign the NHS will feature heavily in the run up to May 7, the SNP health secretary yesterday announced an extra £2m for the Scottish Ambulance Service next year.

Shona Robison said the money would be used to boost the skills of ambulance staff in order to treat more people at home or in the community and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.

She said: "With this investment the ambulance service will be better prepared to meet the needs and the challenges of the future."

The Scottish Ambulance Service's five-year target is cut A&E attendances by around 12% through better patient care outside hospital.

The service, which has a £212m revenue budget, responds to around 850,000 calls a year, around half a million of them 999 emergencies.

Ambulance Service chief executive Pauline Howie said: "Last year over 77,000 patients avoided attendance at A&E after being treating safely at home by our teams and we continued to improve cardiac arrest survival rates.

"Our strategy... [will] meet the changing needs of patients within the new landscape of integrated health and social care in Scotland."

Labour said the new cash was "a sticking plaster response to the crisis facing Scotland's A&Es".