840,000 on NHS ready lists beneath the SNP

John Swinney was last night ridiculed for insisting only the SNP can protect the NHS – as waiting lists hit a record high of 840,000.

Bombshell figures yesterday revealed soaring numbers of sick people struggling to be seen for treatment, with an extra 16,000 stuck lists in the past three months.

The number of patients waiting more than a year for surgery also jumped by a quarter in the past 12 months to 37,000, as the crisis-hit health service struggles to recruit staff.

Yet the First Minister claimed he would unite Scotland to ‘protect the NHS’, despite his government’s recovery plan for the service failing to make a dent in treatment times.

John Swinney has insisted only the SNP can protect the NHS – as waiting lists hit a record high

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the NHS backlog was ‘out of control’. He added: ‘It is almost laughable that John Swinney had the cheek to claim the SNP could be trusted to protect our NHS. 

After 17 years of SNP failure, A&E waiting times are at record highs, GP practices are closing across the country, and it can take hours for critically ill patients to get an ambulance.

‘Scots know that the SNP have neglected our health service because of their independence obsession.’

The number of people waiting for outpatient appointments, operations and vital tests rose to 840,300 at the end of March. This figure is almost 2 per cent higher than at the end of December and more than double what it was before the pandemic.

Key SNP pledges to eradicate long waits have not been met. 

The number of people waiting more than a year stood at 37,761, up a quarter in the past 12 months. Of those, 1,369 have been on the list for more than three years.

In July 2022, then health secretary Humza Yousaf laid out plans to ‘eradicate’ long waits for treatment, including ending two-year delays for inpatient treatment by September of that year, 18-month waits by September 2023 and waits of more than a year by September this year.

Public Health Scotland, which published the latest figures, said the targets ‘have yet to be achieved’, with more than 7,000 people still waiting more than two years. Figures for the eight key diagnostic tests – including colonoscopies, CT scans and MRI scans – showed 150,014 people were still waiting on March 31.

That is 4 per cent higher than the previous quarter, but a decrease of about 2,000 since last year.

Launching the SNP’s General Election campaign last week, Mr Swinney tried to make a virtue of his party’s management of the NHS. He said: ‘You want a National Health Service you can rely on. Let’s unite Scotland to protect our NHS.’

Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘Nearly one in six Scots are now languishing on a waiting list knowing that this SNP government’s incompetence could be a matter of life and death.

‘Scottish taxpayers are spending more but not getting even the basic guarantee that they will be cared for in return.’

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the blame ‘lies solely at the door of the SNP’.

The Scottish Government said it was ‘determined to ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible’, adding: ‘We know there are still unacceptable waits in some specialities, but we are making progress.’