Constance faces scrutiny over delayed Monklands hospital plans
Scotland’s Health Secretary Angela Constance is facing accusations of withholding information about the delayed Monklands replacement hospital after a confidential briefing to First Minister John Swinney outlined problems before the project’s public reset. Opposition MSPs say redacted dates and undisclosed details suggest ministers kept Parliament and the public uninformed; the government has not publicly provided the full timeline.
The briefing, sent on 18 June, said the £2 billion project was unlikely to meet the previous commitment to open within the current parliamentary term. It warned that without decisions on services, design could be delayed and construction could slip beyond 2028; the redesigned hospital is expected to be smaller, with fewer services, and may not open before 2031. The project was paused and redrawn in June after ministers had been warned in March that it should not proceed as planned.
- A confidential briefing warned the Monklands hospital plan was in trouble.
- The £2 billion project may open no earlier than 2031.
- Opposition MSPs accuse ministers of withholding its timeline.
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Monklands Hospital serves people in North Lanarkshire, and plans have been under way to replace it with a new hospital. The Scottish Government is responsible for major health-service decisions, while NHS Lanarkshire is involved in planning the project.
The replacement was expected to cost about £2 billion, but its design and timetable depend on decisions about which services it will provide. Those choices affect the hospital’s size, the work needed to build it and when it can open.
Angela Constance is Scotland’s Health Secretary, and John Swinney is First Minister. The issue has drawn scrutiny because Parliament and the public rely on ministers to explain how major public projects are progressing.
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The case for
Opposition MSPs can argue that Parliament and the public need timely, clear information about a major publicly funded hospital project, especially when ministers have been warned of delays and possible reductions in services. If the June briefing identified serious risks before the public reset, withholding its timeline could have prevented scrutiny of when ministers knew and how they responded.
The case against
The government can argue that a project of this scale involves evolving forecasts and sensitive planning decisions, so a briefing to the First Minister may have been intended to support internal decisions before ministers could give Parliament a reliable public account. Redactions or delayed disclosure do not by themselves establish deliberate concealment, and officials may have needed to settle service and design choices before publishing a firm timeline.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Minister accused of cover-up over SNP’s doomed £2bn hospital project”.