Dr Callum George: Jenni Minto must answer for £100m maternity failure as Argyll patients are “left behind”
ARGYLL AND BUTE – Dr Callum George, Scottish Labour candidate for Argyll and Bute, has today called on the incumbent local MSP and Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto, to take responsibility for her part in the “crisis of safety and distance” in Scotland’s maternity services.
New figures revealing that NHS Scotland has paid out over £100 million in maternity negligence claims over the last five years have sparked fresh concerns about the safety of units under the SNP’s watch. This financial toll is compounded by harrowing reports of rural mothers being forced to endure 100-mile journeys in labour due to the downgrading or limitations of local services—a reality all too familiar to families across Argyll and Bute.
Dr Callum George, a local doctor and Scottish Labour’s parliamentary candidate, said:
“As a doctor working on the frontline, I find these figures devastating but, sadly, unsurprising. This £100 million isn’t just a number on a spreadsheet; it represents a staggering scale of human trauma and avoidable pain. It is money that should have been invested in midwives, local beds, and obstetrics cover for our rural areas, but instead, it is being paid out because the system is failing at its most basic task.”
“The irony will not be lost on the people of Argyll and Bute that their own MSP, Jenni Minto, is the Minister specifically responsible for Women’s Health. While she sits at the Cabinet table, mothers in our community are still being treated as an afterthought, forced to travel halfway across the country—often in pain and fear—because rural maternity provision has been hollowed out.”
On the risk of a “whitewash” maternity review, Dr George added:
“There are serious fears that the ongoing review into maternity services will be a whitewash that ignores the lived experience of rural families. We don’t need more ‘monitoring’ reports or ‘strategic overviews’ from the SNP. We need a guarantee that a woman’s postcode in Argyll won’t determine the safety of her birth.”
“After nearly 20 years of SNP government, the record is clear: rising negligence costs, falling local access, and a Minister who seems unable to fix the mess in her own department. Jenni Minto cannot continue to represent Argyll and Bute while overseeing a system that asks our expectant mothers to risk 100-mile journeys on crumbling roads. It is time for a representative who puts our health services first, not SNP self-preservation.”
Scottish Labour has pledged to “rural-proof” healthcare, ensuring that the basics—like safe, local maternity care—are returned to the heart of the community.
