Remobilising NHS will take years, Yousaf warns, as health boards continue to struggle
Fully remobilising the NHS in Scotland after Covid will take years, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf has warned.
He was speaking on the issue as health boards across the country continue to come under pressure because of the impact of coronavirus.
Bosses at NHS Lanarkshire were on Tuesday forced to cancel some planned surgeries, with the health board's directorofacuteservicesjudithpark saying "the pressures on our hospitals are as severe as at any time in the whole pandemic".
Accident and emergency departments are also under pressure, with the latest weekly figures showing almost a fifth (19.9 per cent) of patients had to waitmorethanfourhourstobe dealt with.
Mr Yousaf stressed that operations are not being cancelled "acrosstheboard",butby"some health boards".
While he accepted this has "an impact" on patients, he said itallowshealthservices"todeal withthemosturgentpriorities".
He also said some emergency departments are dealing with higher volumes of cases than they were before the pandemic, describing this as "quite extraordinary".
He said the Scottish Government has given an additional £12 million to A&E departments "for them to be able to use in whatever way they think is appropriate".
Heinsistedthereare"noquick fixes",butsaidemergencyunits are performing "well given the real, real challenges and pressures they are facing".
The Health Secretary said: "The fact that eight out of ten peoplearebeingseenwithinthe four-hourtreatmenttimetarget that we have, it doesn't suggest to me they're in crisis.
"Challengingforsure,difficult forsure,nobodyisdenyingthat, that is why we are giving additionalfundingtohealthboards."
He said he has spoken to a "number of the health boards that are facing probably the most acute pressure", explaining that they are often dealing with more complicated cases than pre-covid.
Mr Yousaf said: "We have just beenthroughahugeshockhere for the last 16 months where a number of people who might have presented haven't presented and therefore are coming with more complexities."
A plan for the full remobilisation of the NHS in Scotland will be published "shortly", he promised.