597 NHS buildings are more than 70 years old

Opposition MSPs hit out over 'national scandal'

- EXCLU SIVE BY PAUL HUTCHEON

THE SNP government has been accused of a “national scandal” as figures showed hundreds of NHS buildings are more than 70 years old.

One clinic in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, is in a 165-year-old property over twice the age of the health service.

Meanwhile, dozens of other buildings across the country are described as “crumbling” by opposition MSPs.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “These numbers show that the Scottish NHS is still relying on hundreds of buildings which are almost as old as the health service itself.

“While there will be many old buildings which have undergone the appropriate modernisation, the scale of the NHS's maintenance backlog suggests many of them have not kept pace with where health boards would like them to be.”