Labour Health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie and dentistry spokesperson Paul Sweeney.
By Democrat reporter
A&E figures have shown that in March 5,377 patients spent more than 12 hours in A&E, and that in the week ending 27 April, the proportion of patients waiting more than 12 hours increased compared to the previous week.
Scottish Labour’s Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “Behind these figures are thousands of patients trapped in hospitals just waiting to be seen.
“Rather than preparing our NHS for the future, the SNP is presiding over managed decline.
“Scottish Labour will end the A&E ordeal by freeing up hospital beds through tackling delayed discharge and restoring the family doctor so less patients have to seek emergency help in the first place.”
On the latest delayed discharge figures, which showed that on average 1,900 beds were occupied each day in March 2025, Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP promised to end delayed discharge but instead thousands of Scots are facing an uncertain future while other patients can’t get a hospital bed.
“The SNP must end this miserable logjam and ensure that everyone who is treated can get the care they need.”
On the latest cancelled planned operations figures, which showed that the number of planned operations remains below pre-pandemic levels, Jackie Baillie added: “The SNP pledged to rebuild the NHS after Covid-19 but these figures show a worrying slowdown in the restoration of planned operations while thousands of operations are still being cancelled.
“With nearly one in six Scots on an NHS waiting list, the SNP must urgently investigate why the rate is slowing.
“Scottish Labour will reduce waiting lists by using all theatre capacity to ensure patients get the operations they need.”
Commenting on the Scottish Atlas of Healthcare Variation, which shows that dental extraction remains the most common reason for children to go under general anaesthetic, with 6,525 paediatric dental extractions taking place in 2023, Scottish Labour Dentistry spokesperson Paul Sweeney said: “These shocking figures expose the SNP’s rotten record on dentistry.
“NHS dentistry in Scotland is fighting for survival as a result of SNP mismanagement and these are the shameful consequences.
“Every single year thousands of children are going under anaesthetic because of severe dental problems.
“The SNP must step up, deal with the crisis in NHS dentistry, and ensure that every child in Scotland has access to the dental care and advice they need.”
Hospital paediatric dental extractions under general anaesthesia
- In 2023, the rate of hospital paediatric dental extractions under general anaesthesia procedures in children and young people aged 17 years and under in Scotland was 652.8 per 100,000 population. It remains the most common reason for children to have an elective hospital admission in Scotland.
- There was a 15.7-fold variation in the directly age-sex standardised rate of hospital paediatric dental extractions under general anaesthesia procedures across the NHS Boards of Residence in Scotland, ranging from 107.9 to 1,689.0 per 100,000 population.
- The highest age-sex standardised rates of hospital paediatric dental extractions under general anaesthesia were consistently observed among children and young people from the most socioeconomically deprived areas (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation – SIMD1).
- 6,525 paediatric dental extractions.
Responding to new Public Health Scotland figures showing 1,925 people were stuck in hospital at the March census due to their discharge being delayed, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP., pictured right, said: “It’s unacceptable that a lack of care at home or in the community is keeping so many people stuck in hospital.
“Staff and services have been failed by a government that never invests in them, that chooses to waste four years and £30 million on a top-down takeover of social care instead.
“The SNP have spent the last eighteen years proving they can’t deliver. That’s why we need a change of government.”
You can find the full figures here
In 2015, the SNP government promised to “eradicate delayed discharges in the system within a year.”