Nicola Sturgeon joined the Labour Party in criticising the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party over their management of NHS England over the past ten years. But the Scottish First Minister faced an intense grilling session as she was confronted over the SNP’s own record in Scotland after missing six of the nation’s eight healthcare targets repeatedly. BBC Today programme host Martha Kearney said: “The SNP is facing its own questions on health.

“The Scottish Parliament will be discussing serious problems at the so-called super hospital in Glasgow. The city’s health board is in special measures after the death of two children at the hospital.

“And, under the SNP Government, six of the eight health targets have been missed.”

Ms Kearney added: “If you take one of them, cancer treatment – it’s important cancer patients are seen promptly. That target hasn’t been met since 2013.”

Ms Sturgeon insisted NHS Scotland has consistently performed better than NHS England and Wales but ultimately conceded the party still has to work on improving the situation. 

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The SNP leader said: “I’m not saying it is job done in Scotland or that we are meeting those targets.

“The point I’m making is we are making more progress in terms of building the capacity, doing the reforms on our health services as required.

“On most key performances, I’ve mentioned Accidents and Emergency – Accidents and Emergency’s performance is still work to do in Scotland. I’m not suggesting it’s job done but our A&E departments are 10 percentage points ahead of the situation in England.”

She added: “The point I’m making is that people in Scotland say the SNP is in charge of the health – there are three parties in this election who have some responsibility for health in different parts of the UK. The SNP here, the Tories in England and Labour in Wales.

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“The point I’m making is not that we don’t face challenges, but when you look at how we are looking and meeting those challenges the SNP in Scotland is doing that much better.”

But some listeners appeared unconvinced with Ms Sturgeon’s justification, with one social media user writing on Twitter: “#r4today Sturgeon struggling about the poor performance of the NHS. She’s prepared to accept responsibility for things when they go right but it’s everybody else’s fault when it goes wrong. Poor excuse for a politician. Lots of whataboutery from her.”

Another online user also appeared not to have been moved by Ms Sturgeon’s argument: “Nicola Sturgeon’s defence of Scottish NHS targets not being met by saying other countries have same problem is of no consolation to patients. #r4today.”

And another welcomed the “scrutiny” the Scottish First Minister faced on the BBC programme: “Finally Nicola Sturgeon gets some south of the border media scrutiny on her appalling health service record #r4today.”

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The SNP is expected to play a significant role in the aftermath of the general election as a potential coalition partner to Labour but Ms Sturgeon is expected to make clear demands to Jeremy Corbyn before granting her help.

The First Minister could demand additional investment into NHS England to match Scottish leaves, which currently spends £136 higher per person than the neighbouring service.

Ms Sturgeon suggested the extra money in England would result in an additional £4bn for NHS Scotland as the money Edinburgh receives to spend on health is partially calculated on how much is used in England.

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