More than 400,000 operations cancelled with no sign of stopping

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today called on the First Minister to accept his government’s NHS Recovery Plan has failed after new Liberal Democrat analysis revealed that 413,738 operations have been lost since the pandemic first began.

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 three years. The analysis also showed there was a 20% decrease between the number of operations scheduled in May and the average pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Cole-Hamilton commented:  

“Without a shadow of doubt Humza Yousaf’s NHS Recovery Plan has failed.  It is time for the First Minister to accept this.

“With the number of operations lost increasing to near insurmountable levels, we need this SNP/Green Government to get their priorities in order and take urgent action.”

“It’s now abundantly clear that Michael Matheson must scrap his predecessor’s ineffective NHS Recovery Plan and urgently devise a new one which will prioritise the recruitment and retention of staff through a burnout prevention strategy and a staff and social care assembly."