Operations activity remains lower than pre-pandemic levels

Responding to Public Health Scotland figures published today which show that the number of planned operations far below pre-pandemic levels, with 14.5% fewer operations planned between August 2023-July 2024, than were planned in the 12 months prior to the pandemic and 8.4% of operations (1,998) cancelled on the day or the day before, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“These statistics confirm that services are being overwhelmed, the backlogs are not shifting and patients are being left in pain waiting for essential operations.

“It’s troubling that almost 2,000 operations were cancelled the day before or on the day. Preparing for an operation is stressful and people arrange their lives around it so to have than yanked away last minute is desperately unfair.

“It is now more than three years since Humza Yousaf’s NHS Recovery Plan was published, with no real sign of any progress. If that doesn’t signal to Neil Gray that there needs to be a new plan, I don’t know what will. It is what patients and staff deserve.

“A new plan must prioritise the recruitment and retention of staff through a burnout prevention strategy and a staff and social care assembly to put their expert knowledge at the heart of rebuilding our NHS.”