The SNP Government has been accused of 'sickening hypocrisy' after spending more than £82 million on private health services last year.

The attack from Scottish Labour health spokesman Dr Richard Simpson came after independent figures showed spending on private care by the NHS has almost doubled since 1999/2000 when it was £33.2 million, to its highest ever figure, £82.5million, in 2014-15.

Dr Simpson said the details released by the impartial Scottish Parliament Information Centre, showed the NHS was under increased strain, but meant resources were being diverted to the pockets of shareholders.

He added: “These figures reveal the sickening hypocrisy of the SNP around our NHS. They will campaign in elections against privatisation of our NHS whilst handing over increasing amounts of taxpayer cash to private health firms. The nationalists are simply being two faced.

“Spending more taxpayer cash on private health services is an indication of the problems experienced by our NHS. Despite this increase in private sector spending the SNP still can’t meet it’s own treatment time guarantee which gave patients a legal right to be seen within 12 weeks."

The figures show that NHS Lothian spent the most on private care last year, £17.8million, an increase of £1.2 million over the previous year, while NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spent £12.5 million, although this was a drop from the previous year's £13.8 million. NHS Tayside spent £7.3 million last year on private care while NHS Grampian's private sector spend has risen 400 per cent since 2010-11, to £6.7 million.

The Scottish Government said patients were only treated in the private sector in exceptional circumstances.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government is committed to protecting our NHS and keeping it in public hands.

“Scotland’s NHS is seeing more patients than ever before, carrying out a record of over one million inpatient procedures last year - an increase of almost 18 per cent. As part of our plans to meet this increased demand, we have provided extra investment to increase capacity at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, which is just one way we are enabling more people to be treated more quickly by the NHS.

“Figures show that NHS spending in the independent sector represents less than 0.9 per cent of NHS Scotland’s frontline spending. That stands in contrast to the NHS in England where private health spending stands at £7 billion and is growing significantly each year..”