Forced to go private to beat NHS queues
Surge in patients paying to skip waiting times
SOARING numbers of Scots are being forced to pay for private healthcare amid a growing NHS crisis.
Thousands are funding their own treatment to beat lengthy waiting lists – despite also paying for care through their taxes.
Figures show a rise of more than 70 per cent in private patients in Scotland since the pandemic began for surgery such as hip replacements.
‘Turned a crisis into catastrophe’
The disclosure came as Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was yesterday accused of presiding over 500 days of failure since he took charge of the NHS in Scotland.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Jackie Baillie said: ‘The chaos in our NHS is creating a scandalous two-tier healthcare system, where those who cannot afford to pay get left behind.
‘The pandemic worsened the damage done by years of SNP mismanagement, and 500 days of failure under Humza Yousaf has turned a crisis into a catastrophe.
‘The very future of our NHS is under threat.’
According to figures published by the Private Healthcare Information Network, the number of patients funding their own treatment has surged by 72 per cent since the pandemic.
There were 4,900 operations and other procedures at private hospitals from January to March 2022, up from 2,850 for the same period in 2019.
In June, 42,372 people in Scotland were on waiting lists for NHS orthopaedic treatment. Among private patients, new knees and hips, hernia procedures and cataract operations were most in demand, with knee replacement surgery costing up to £15,000 and a hip replacement £13,000. People can wait up to three years for such surgery on the NHS.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘These figures are rightly seen as cause for concern.’
Stella Birtles, 67, of Rafford, Moray, has waited ten months for a hip replacement on the NHS - and has now decided to go private.
She told the Sunday Times that the doctors she had seen
‘Turned a crisis into catastrophe’
were ‘as frustrated’ as she was about delays.
The pensioner added: ‘Physically, I am absolutely wrecked. Every step is painful standing, sitting, moving. I barely get out nowadays and I struggle to step over the threshold to get into the shower.
‘The system stinks and the treatment time guarantee is meaningless. No one can tell me how long I will have to wait, and my big fear is that in another 12 months I will be bed-bound.’
Since Mr Yousaf became Health Secretary in May last year, a raft of official statistics have exposed the worst-ever performance of the NHS. Waiting times in A&E have reached an all-time high, while staff shortages have worsened, leading nurses to threaten strike action for the first time in living memory.
Thousands of patients have been trapped in hospital because of unprecedented levels of delayed discharges.
Meanwhile, people diagnosed with conditions such as cancer face record delays in treatment. In the most recent quarter, the proportion starting treatment within 62 days of urgent referral had fallen to 76.3 per cent of patients.
Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the figures were a ‘damning indictment’ of Mr Yousaf ’s ‘mismanagement of the NHS’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are working with NHS boards to end long waits, which have been exacerbated by the impacts of the global pandemic.
‘This includes new targets to address the backlog of planned care in our NHS and the delivery of the £1billion NHS Recovery Plan.’
The spokesman said ‘use of self-pay admissions in the independent sector is around 13 per cent higher in England than in Scotland per head of population, and more than 26 per cent higher in Wales’.
AFTER 500 days as Health Secretary, it’s clear that Humza Yousaf has failed to tackle the massive challenges faced by the NHS.
One persuasive measure of patient dissatisfaction is an increase in the number of Scots opting for private treatment.
It’s little wonder that so many are taking this route – despite the considerable expense – as an alternative to living in pain for months, or even years.
These patients have already paid for healthcare through their taxes – and in Scotland higher earners pay more than they would south of the Border.
A two-tier health system where poorer patients have to put up with huge delays is unacceptable.
Even before the pandemic, state-funded healthcare was in dire straits but Covid exacerbated the problems.
The NHS spearheaded crucial mass vaccination, while dedicated medics battled coronavirus on hospital wards.
Emerging from that nightmarish ordeal they had to focus on remobilisation and addressing treatment backlogs.
Mr Yousaf appears to have had no coherent rescue plan in place, preferring relentless self-promotion.
The SNP’s neglect and mismanagement of the NHS over the past 15 years is shameful.
If Mr Yousaf is incapable of masterminding the recovery of our most important public service, he should step aside – and allow someone more capable to take over.