ONE of Scotland’s most debt-ridden health boards drafted in a former SNP MSP to advise senior staff ahead of a Holyrood grilling over the dire state of their finances.

Nigel Don is a former member of the Public Audit committee that interrogated NHS Tayside bosses in December over a financial crisis that means the board must save £214 million over the next five years to break even.

After being de-selected by his local party for last May’s Scottish Parliament elections, Mr Don was brought in to help prepare the health board for a round of questioning at his former committee.

The ailing finances of NHS Tayside, which serves nearly 400,000 people, are growing a source of concern for MSPs and an embarrassment for the SNP Government.

Audit Scotland projected an £11.6m potential deficit in the current financial year and revealed the board had benefited from nearly £25m in Government bailouts over four years.

The report led to Holyrood’s Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee holding an evidence session in Dundee last month where NHS Tayside chief executive Lesley McLay, board Chair Professor John Connell, finance director Lindsay Bedford and chief internal auditor Tony Gaskin were quizzed by MSPs.

But days before the summit, Mr Don had been invited to Ninewells hospital to assist senior NHS Tayside figures on the “protocols and procedures” of giving evidence to the Committee.

A board spokesperson said the former MSP did not charge NHS Tayside and the advice was “arranged personally between Professor John Connell and Mr Don”.

But the move has sparked outrage from rival parties amid calls for the health board to come clean about the nature of the advice they sought.

Local Labour MSP Jenny Marra said: “NHS Tayside need to explain fully what procedures and protocols they needed assistance with.

“Committee meetings are simply question and answers.”

She added that well paid senior staff “should be able to understand this”.

Ms Marra said: “This is the SNP using their own henchmen to help NHS bosses spin their way out of financial crisis.

“The party of government should not be helping to gloss over the unacceptable situation at NHS Tayside.”

Mr Don was a Nationalist MSP between 2007 and 2016, first as a List member in the North East and then as a constituency representative for Angus North and Mearns.

He failed to get re-selected by his party for the seat at last year’s Holyrood election and was not returned to the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Don, who was a member of Public Audit as an MSP from 2014, told the Herald: “My assistance was simply a meeting at which I took the relevant members of NHS Tayside senior management through the public documents which were available to the Public Audit Committee.

“In the process of highlighting the questions which sprang to my mind I was able to help them to understand the nature of answers which would be helpful to the committee, which is unique in its remit and approach.

“The members of the Committee are very well versed in public finance and do not need the explanations which would be required for the general public; they want succinct numerical responses which address the issues specifically raised by individual members.”

On whether he would be getting paid, Mr Don said: “This was done at the personal request of John Connell and I won’t be sending a bill to anyone.”

But Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Donald Cameron said: “Instead of drafting in former politicians to provide technical tips on how to deal with parliamentary scrutiny, patients would far prefer to see a focus on improving care standards and becoming a more efficient set-up.”

A spokesman for NHS Tayside said: “As a former member of the Public Audit Committee, Mr Don assisted with protocols and procedures in relation to giving evidence to the committee.”