Local Doctor and Labour Candidate Slams Health Minister Over “Betrayal” of Chronic Pain Patients in Argyll and Bute
ARGYLL AND BUTE – Dr Callum George, the Scottish Labour candidate for Argyll and Bute and a resident doctor in the constituency, has today called for an urgent overhaul of chronic pain services following a unanimous vote of no confidence in the local MSP and Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto.
The vote, passed by the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Chronic Pain on March 16, 2026, follows a series of revelations regarding the “crushing secrecy” and “amateurish spin” surrounding the Scottish Government’s handling of long-term health conditions.
A Record of Failure and Secrecy
As a frontline doctor, Dr George highlighted that while Jenni Minto presides over public health for five million people, her own constituents and patients across Scotland are being left in “agony”. Key failings identified include:
- Secret Funding Cuts: The Scottish Government silently withdrew 10 years of funding for Scotland’s only national residential pain service in Glasgow—a vital lifeline for rural areas like Argyll and Bute that lack specialist local services. This cut was not disclosed to Parliament or patients and was only discovered a year later through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
- Manipulation of Research: Minister Minto recently admitted to “repeated influence” by the government on a £40,000 “independent” chronic pain report. The government dictated the use of the term “no impact” to downplay patient suffering, even though patients themselves never used the term.
- Broken Promises on Women’s Health: Despite a 2021 pledge to reduce the agonizing eight-year wait for endometriosis diagnosis to under one year by the end of this Parliament (April 2026), wait times have instead climbed to 10 years and two months—the worst in the UK.
- Exclusion of Rural Voices: A new “short life working group” contrived by the government to review pain treatments has excluded real patients, supportive clinicians and representatives from Argyll and Bute, despite the constituency’s reliance on these services.
“Patients Deserve Transparency, Not Spin”
Dr Callum George, Scottish Labour Candidate for Argyll and Bute, said:
“As a resident doctor in this constituency, I see the human cost of these political failures and dodgy backroom dealings every day. Patients in Argyll and Bute are being forced to navigate a ‘sodden duvet of secrecy’ while their essential treatments are quietly stripped away.
“It is a dereliction of duty for the Public Health Minister to allow diagnosis waits for women to exceed a decade while her department manipulates research to minimize the devastating reality of chronic pain. The unanimous vote of no confidence from the Cross-Party Group—which includes patients, experts, and MSPs from across the chamber—is a damning indictment of Ms. Minto’s leadership. Argyll and Bute deserves a representative who prioritizes patient care over government spin. They can vote for one on 7th May – unlike Ms. Minto, I will put patients first and will never deprioritise my own constituency.”
Professional Condemnation
The Minister’s proposals for long-term conditions have also been “slammed” by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The colleges warned that the government’s plans lacked “strategic thinking” and could be “inadvertently damaging” to vital services, including cardiac care.
Notes:
- The Cross-Party Group on Chronic Pain has operated for six Parliaments since 2001 and is composed of MSPs, clinicians, and patient volunteers.
- The £40,000 Scottish Government report on chronic pain was criticized for using commercially recruited participants paid £200 each, rather than authenticated patient volunteers.
- Freedom of Information requests revealed that cash-strapped health boards are now expected to cover the costs of the national residential pain service, leading to a significant reduction in patient referrals.
