Cole-Hamilton: Over 370,000 operations lost since Covid shows patients are being let down

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called on Humza Yousaf to “get a grip of this crisis”, after new Liberal Democrat analysis revealed that 373,235 operations have been lost since the pandemic first began, yet another indication that the Cabinet Secretary’s recovery plan is failing.

Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Public Health Scotland figures has compared average pre-Covid levels of NHS activity with the number of operations scheduled over the past two years.

The analysis showed there was a 30% decrease between the number of operations scheduled in December last year and the average pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Cole-Hamilton commented: 

"With every day that passes NHS backlogs are getting worse and worse, the Health Secretary’s NHS recovery plan is failing and patients waiting for operations are being let down.

“People need to know that they can get the treatment they need when they need it. But on every metric, this Government is failing our NHS and those who rely on it.

“Today’s figures provide yet more evidence of SNP mismanagement of our health service. People have had enough of the excuses, Humza Yousaf needs to get a grip of this crisis or the First Minister will need to find someone else who can. “

ENDS

Notes to editors:

You can find the latest figures for cancelled operations here and you can find Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of the figures here.