WOMEN ‘FAILED’ BY SNP AS HYSTERECTOMY WAITING TIMES SOAR POST-PANDEMIC

NOVEMBER 27

By Lucy Ashton

Women are being failed by the SNP, Scottish Labour has said today, after rapidly expanding waiting times for a hysterectomy has forced patients to wait nearly as long as four years for surgery.

The longest wait for a hysterectomy in NHS Borders has skyrocketed from 50 days in 2018/19 to a jaw-dropping 715 days. This near 15-fold increase is the sharpest increase of any NHS board, but it is far from the longest wait.

Shockingly, in both NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside women have been left waiting for well over three years, with the longest wait in Lanarkshire hitting a stark 1392 days – nearly four years.

While some long waits can be put down to complications with treatment, the stark increase across multiple health boards should ‘sound the alarm’ for the SNP, Scottish Labour has said.

This drastic increase comes as over 10,000 women remain on the gynaecological wait list, of which 3,300 have waited over a year, despite promises from the SNP to prioritise women’s health and the appointment of Professor Anna Glasier as Women’s Health Champion earlier this year.

Scottish Labour Women’s Health spokesperson Carol Mochan, right,  said: “Every day spent waiting for surgery is another day that women are being forced to suffer in agony, anxiety, and exhaustion.

“The worrying length of some of these waits has and will continue to put women’s health at risk, but nothing will get any better while the SNP continue sit on their hands.

“We can no longer use the pandemic as an excuse for failing women in need.

“When Professor Glasier, the Women’s Health Champion took up her post in January this year, it offered the opportunity for change in tackling years of neglect women’s healthcare has faced. The SNP must get a grip on the appalling long waits for treatment experienced by women with a proper catch up plan for women-specific specialities and get serious about reversing the health inequalities women are forced to endure.”

Longest Wait Times for Hysterectomies, 2018/19 – 2023/24 to date. 

	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23	2023/24	Current wait	% change 18/19 to 23/24 current wait
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	93	99	291	475	857	954	870	835%
NHS Borders	50	53.5	66.5	47	76	72	715	1330%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	205	134	321	502	776	982	914	346%
NHS Lanarkshire	235	270	382	528	1128	1131	1392	492%
NHS Lothian	203.4	273.7	510.1	637.4	767.3	825.6	703.2	246%
NHS Tayside	321	564	436	778	1357	1112	1274	297%

Source: Scottish Labour FOI.

Gynaecology inpatient/day case waits