Cole-Hamilton: Over 380,000 operations lost since Covid shows NHS Recovery Plan not working

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called for the Scottish Government to take “real action” on NHS backlogs, after new Liberal Democrat analysis revealed that 384,023 operations have been lost since the pandemic first began, highlighting once again that the Cabinet Secretary needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new NHS Recovery Plan

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 also showed there was a 38% decrease between the number of operations scheduled in January and the average pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Cole-Hamilton commented:  

“As NHS backlogs deepen, it’s clear the Health Secretary’s NHS recovery plan has done nothing to make the situation better for patients waiting on operations. It’s time for real action, now.

“Humza Yousaf is asking people to trust that as First Minister he will be able to do better, with virtually no evidence to back up his claim.

“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.

“If we are to have any hope that the tide can turn on this crisis, the next First Minister must scrap the current Recovery Plan and devise a new strategy urgently.”