Kate Forbes warned Humza Yousaf about 'protest expert' constituents ahead of Skye visit

The deputy First Minister was speaking to Humza Yousaf in a Whatsapp message which she now says was "never intended for publication".

Campaigners calling for emergency care on Skye have accused Kate Forbes of being powerless to help them after she warned Humza Yousaf they would protest if he visted the area.

The deputy First Minister was speaking to the then-health secretary on Whatsapp when she made comments about campaigners and suggested residents were being “scaremongered by people who should know better”.

She also described the campaigners as “quite the protest experts” but has now said the comments were “never intended for publication”.

The exchange, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, took place in April 2022 - a month before Yousaf visited the island to open Broadford Hospital.

Yousaf was asking Forbes if there were any other sites he should visit when she warned him about the campaign for 24/7 emergency healthcare provision at Portree hospital.

Forbes said: “Hard to ignore Portree Hospital…whether you go or not, as soon as the north Skye community get wind you’re in town they’ll stage a protest (they’re quite the protest experts) so it might be worth hitting that head on and visiting Portree hospital/ speaking to them.”

She went on to say there were “nice island ladies who have been scaremongered by people who should know better.”

Campaigners said the situation is now at a critical point after a woman died and another woman fell seriously ill during a weekend music festival on the island this summer.

School teacher Eilidh Beaton nearly died in May when she had to wait almost an hour for an ambulance after going into anaphylactic shock.

Neil Campbell, vice chairman of the Skye SOS campaign group, said: “When Kate Forbes says we ‘are quite the protest experts’, I take that as a compliment.

“We have spent so long campaigning that of course we’re getting to be experts. What is clear is how little power our MSP actually has. She is unable to do anything.

“She’s very supportive and understands what we are campaigning for, but she’s unable to do anything much about the problem.

“We tell her what’s happening on the ground but she seems to accept NHS managers’ word rather than ours because she’s got us down as scaremongering.

“We are not scaremongering. We are raising relevant issues.”

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Forbes said she meant that residents had been scaremongered themselves and said: “My text exchanges make clear that the ‘scaremongering’ I reference did not originate within the community.

“I praise the community group, even in these private messages.

“Instead it came from opposition politicians who were not straight and often jeopardised progress at Portree Hospital. They should have known better.”

In public Forbes has been supportive of the campaign and efforts to implement recommendations of a review into out of hours urgent care on Skye, published in 2018.

It stated there should be access to urgent non-emergency care 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Currently there is no provision between midnight and 6pm during the week and at weekends care is only available by appointment from 8.30am to 7.30pm.

Campbell said: “Its not a political argument we are having, we just want the service back that we had.

“I would love to meet health secretary Neil Gray and talk to him about what we are dealing with.

“If he is scared we will protest, we won’t. We’ll just meet him. We’re not scary people. What’s scary is the lack of ambulance cover.

“What is getting us more than anything else is the promises and the inability of our MSP and MP to do anything about it.”

Asked about her comments Forbes said: “It is clear from these messages that I met with the community frequently, including taking part in protests, and lobbied the Health Secretary about Portree Hospital.

“I also encouraged the Health Secretary to meet the community directly to hear their concerns about Portree Hospital when he visited Skye to formally open Broadford Hospital.

“Much like anybody’s private messages, these were never intended for publication and so I’ve used colloquial and looser language.”

Yousaf visited Skye in May 2022 but didn’t meet campaigners.

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