By Lucy Ashton
New Health Secretary Neil Gray is facing a ‘perfect storm’ of deadly NHS waiting times caused by years of SNP failure, Scottish Labour has warned today.
Statistics published this morning by Public Health Scotland have shown that at the end of 2023, a staggering 824,725 Scots were stuck on NHS waiting lists – 1 in 7 Scots.
The number of people facing long waits has risen again, despite the SNP government’s targets to eradicate them, with 82,911 people now stuck waiting more than a year – an extra 2,101 people compared to the previous quarter.
Health Secretary Neil Gray, Labour spokesperson Jackie Baillie and LibDem Alex Cole-Hamilton.
There is a worrying increase in the number of Scots waiting on inpatient treatment, with the figure rising by 2,056 compared to the previous quarter.
The figures also reveal that the total waiting list has risen by 22 per cent since the SNP Government published its failing NHS Recovery Plan – confirming once again that the plan is not fit for purpose.
This news comes on the back of the Scottish Government’s reported decision to pause its NHS capital programme. SNP Ministers have promised patients and staff for years that they would deliver state-of-the-art National Treatment Centres – indeed, the SNP put these projects front and centre of its NHS Recovery Plan for increasing capacity and tackling the backlog.
The situation in Scotland’s Accident and Emergency Departments remains dire, with only 62.7 per cent of patients seen with the four-hour performance standard. It is unacceptable that over 3,500 patients waited over 8 hours to be seen, of which 1,500 waited over half a day.
Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “Neil Gray may be mere weeks into his new job but it is clear that he has inherited a perfect storm from his incompetent predecessors.
“SNP mismanagement of our NHS has led to spiralling waits, rising inpatient waiting times and people languishing in pain and in danger in A&E departments.
“While NHS staff work tirelessly, this SNP government is more interested in indulging in petty party politics than putting our NHS first – their priorities are not those of the people of Scotland.
“SNP Ministers have repeatedly promised patients and staff that they have a plan to bring down waiting lists, but all they deliver is one broken promise after another.
“While the SNP fail, Scottish Labour has a plan to slash waiting times and save lives by delivering 160,000 more NHS appointments every year – that’s the change that Scotland needs.”
Responding to the latest Public Health Scotland figures which show that NHS waiting lists totalled 824,725 by the quarter ending December 2023, the equivalent of more than 1 in 7 Scots, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP, pictured right, said:
“Voting SNP is bad for your health. Far too many people are still waiting for vital scans, critical tests, and life-saving treatment; it is a bleak reality facing patients across Scotland.
“The blame for this lies solely at the door of the SNP and their mismanagement of the health system. They have failed to give our hard-working NHS staff the beds, safe staffing and resources they desperately need.
“The new health secretary must not follow in the doomed footsteps of his predecessors. He must scrap Humza Yousaf’s failed recovery plan and bring forward a strategy that will meaningfully tackle burnout among staff and put their voices first as they tackle the crisis.”
Meanwhile, responding to new figures showing only 62.7% of people attending A&E were seen within the four hour target in the week ending 18th February, while 3,501 people waited over 8 hours, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton said:
“Waiting times appear to have stagnated at this low level with little sign of imminent recovery.
“The new Health Secretary needs to act now to reverse this, our NHS cannot afford yet another year of stagnation and no recovery.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats would overhaul the NHS Recovery Plan, bring forward an urgent inquiry into the hundreds of avoidable deaths linked to the emergency care crisis and implement measures which will meaningfully tackle burnout among staff.”
Notes
The latest figures from Public Health Scotland can be found here and here.
They show that as at the quarter ending 31st December 2023:
144,234 people were on a waiting list for diagnostic tests.
525,180 people were on an outpatient waiting list.
155,311 people were on an inpatient waiting list.
Total = 824,725, which is the equivalent of more than 1 in 7 Scots on a waiting list.