by Lucy Ashton
Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Lomond MSP Jackie Baillie has accused the SNP of “risking women’s health” after new figures revealed waits of up to four years for surgery.
Dame Jackie said women’s health is being neglected as waits for hysterectomies rocket.
New figures obtained by Scottish Labour have shown that a patient in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area faced a wait of 1288 days for a hysterectomy – almost four years.
One woman in NHS Lanarkshire waited well over four years – or 1564 days for the procedure.
Hysterectomies are used to treat a range of women’s health conditions when other treatment options have failed, including multiple types of cancer.
Scottish Labour said this was just the latest example of the SNP failing to deliver on women’s healthcare – highlighting rising waits for gynaecology services and decade-long waits for endometriosis results.
The news comes in the wake of International Women’s Day last week.
Jackie Baillie, who is also Scottish Labour’s spokesperson for Health, blasted the data, saying: “The SNP has presided over a growing crisis in our NHS and that is reflected in the fact that the Scottish Government is willing to leave women in limbo for years waiting, often in pain, for potentially life-saving hysterectomy procedures.
“This is a national scandal.
“Women’s health in Scotland had been an afterthought for far too long and the SNP has stood idly by while the NHS was pushed to breaking point.
“I regularly hear from women in my constituency who are faced with soaring gynaecology waiting lists and long waits even for testing, never mind results and treatment.
“We have been hearing the same time and again from women and the SNP has failed to tackle long waits for women’s health services.
“Scottish Labour will step up where the SNP has failed, fix the mess they have made of our NHS and give women’s healthcare the attention it deserves.”