Humza: It’ll take 5 YEARS to fix ‘leaky bucket’ NHS
SCOTLAND’S struggling NHS is a ‘leaky bucket’ that will take at least five years to recover, the Health Secretary has admitted.
Humza Yousaf warned that hospitals are about to be plunged into the worst winter on record.
He also admitted there is no immediate end in sight to the problems of staff and bed shortages and record waiting times that patients are facing.
Mr Yousaf said the NHS recovery will take ‘at least five years’ to complete but added the SNP cannot find more cash to prop up services because of inflation, which he claimed Westminster created.
He told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show the NHS ‘is not performing at the level that obviously any of us would like to see. But I hope people understand the reasons why the NHS is under such significant pressure… the effects of the pandemic being the most significant.
‘[Staff] vacancies are far too high but filling up a leaky bucket isn’t going to help – hence why there’s been so much focus from us on retention and that’s why pay and terms and conditions are so important.
‘[A budget of] £18billion is record investment in the health service. But our Scottish Government budget – just due to inflation… simply down to the UK Government’s economic mismanagement – is worth less by £1.7billion.
‘And when it comes to a record pay offer, I’m not saying in the sofa behind me [there’s] a pot of cash. We’re going to have to find that money from somewhere but we have to live in the reality of the finite budget I’m afraid the Scottish Government has.’ He added: ‘The recovery is happening, but it will take time – it will take years and I’ve got to be up front with that.
‘The NHS isn’t going to recover by this winter… it’s going to take years to recover.
‘Our recovery plan is over five years because we think it is going to take at least five years, frankly, to recover, but this winter itself is going to be, I think, the most challenging the NHS has ever faced.’
On the same programme, Dr Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, called for a workforce ‘long-term plan’. She said: ‘[This is], in essence, a staffing crisis.
‘If I was to say that we need more beds in hospital to cope with increases in demand, then you have to staff those beds.
‘You can’t just open the beds and expect staff to continue at the same level of care.
‘Patient outcomes would be affected if you do that.’
Scottish Conservative public health spokesman Tess White said: ‘The UK Government has provided the Scottish Government with a record £41billion per year for the next three years – the highest spending review settlement since devolution.
‘Humza Yousaf needs to spend less time coming up with embarrassing excuses and put more attention on addressing this crisis.’
A&E waiting times have hit records levels this year.
Some patients have gone days before being seen by medics, while others have been left lying on trolleys or in corridors.
The NHS is also dealing with bed-blocking in hospital wards and workers considering strike action over a pay dispute.
‘Embarrassing excuses’