Fears at NHS ops backlog
Calls have been made for the Scottish Government to guarantee that NHS Ayrshire & Arran will be able to carry out vital operations wherever possible.
The demands come after new figures showed that, in the last six months between April and September, only 3115 operations took place in Ayrshire.
That compares to an average of 10,688 that took place between 2016 and 2019 and means that compared to a normal year, more than 7500 operations weren’t carried out.
South Scotland MSP Brian Whittle said: “An endlessly growing backlog of non- Covid operations isn’t sustainable. “The SNP have to work with health boards and give them the resources needed to resume operations and support patients whose surgery is delayed. These figures show the scale of the backlog that’s built up over the last few months. Without urgent actiot, those waiting lists may never be cleared. The SNP must ensure that NHS Ayrshire & Arran have the resources they need to safely carry out as many non- Covid procedures as possible.”
John Burns, chief executive at NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: “The ongoing COVID- 19 pandemic requires us to continually review our services to ensure that staffing and other resources can be allocated in line with the clinical priorities.
“While it may be necessary to reduce non- urgent surgery in order to meet the demands of COVID- 19, we are very aware of the impact that this has on patients waiting for planned care. We are working with other partner organisations, including the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, to provide capacity so that we can continue some non- urgent operations. “Continuation of cancer and other clinically urgent operations continues to be our priority.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “During the first phase of the coronavirus ( COVID- 19) pandemic, we asked health boards to postpone non- life threatening elective procedures to allow vital NHS staff to be redeployed to support the response to the virus.
“Pausing non- urgent activity and the phased reintroduction of services, has inevitably led to planned operations being cancelled and to a build- up of numbers waiting for treatment.
“We are following an evidence based, cautious and phased approach to restarting NHS services and working closely with health boards to minimise delays going forward supported by the actions set out in local remobilisation plans.”