Operations activity still lower than pre-pandemic levels

Responding to Public Health Scotland figures published today which show that the number of planned operations was lower than pre-pandemic levels, with 19.2% fewer operations planned in December 2023 than were planned in December 2019, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“These stats reveal that Michael Matheson is just another in a long line of SNP Health Secretaries who have overseen the decline of Scotland’s NHS. It is patients waiting months to be treated and staff near breaking point who are paying the price for years of government mismanagement.

The Health Secretary has to get to grips with this crisis. That starts by admitting that his predecessors NHS Recovery Plan has failed, and coming up with something better. 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."