1100 patients wait over a year for NHS treatment

Government under fire as ‘damning’ figures reveal 420 per cent increase

The Scottish Government’s stewardship of the NHS has come under fire after new figures revealed a 420 per cent rise in the number of outpatients waiting more than a year for treatment.

Opposition politicians said the waits endured by patients were a “damning indictment” of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP administration handling of the health service. The figures released under Freedom of Information legislation reveal that 1,186 people waited more than 12 months to be treated in hospital last year. One patient waited more than four years for treatment.

The figures, obtained by the Scottish Conservatives, from the NHS’S Waiting Times Datamart showed a dramatic increase on the 228 patients who were forced to wait over a year in 2015. The

Combination of austerity politics and ageing population leaves the NHS in dire straits

Whenever new figures emerge showing patients have been waiting longer for treatment, the strain on our health service that staff experience every day becomes obvious.

Year after year, the level of demand that NHS services face is increasing but the resources invested in the health service are failing to keep pace.

That funding gap is caused by a combination of austerity politics and an increasing elderly population with complex health needs and it comes in the midst of severe difficulties in recruiting and retaining doctors.

The Scottish Government likes to highlight

Analysis By Dr Peter Bennie