NHS backlog a £600m priority

Tory candidate Julie Pirone is backing plans to invest an extra £600million to tackle the treatment backlog in the NHS.

The giant fund will help to tackle the backlog in treatments and procedures in Renfrewshire which were exacerbated by the pandemic.

The fund would be managed by a taskforce that would be independent of government, led by clinicians with the skills and expertise to get patients in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde seen as quickly as possible.

The taskforce would ensure that outpatients appointments and elective surgery would be available seven days a week in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board, according to Pirone, candidate for Renfrewshire North and West.

She said: “Rebuilding our NHS after the Covid-19 pandemic must be a top priority.

“The covid crisis has created a major backlog of patients in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board’s area who are waiting on vital treatments and procedures.

“We must treat this backlog in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board’s area with, the seriousness it deserves and ensure patients are treated as quickly as possible.

“This extra £600million of funding will give clinicians in Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board the resources needed to get treatment times under control.

“Only a vote for the Scottish Conservatives on your peach ballot paper will guarantee a focus on our NHS recovery and tackling the backlog, rather than obsessing over another divisive referendum.”