NHS Scotland patients waiting more than 78 weeks for treatment skyrockets
THE number of patients waiting more than 78 weeks for treatment in Scotland has rocketed to 38,070 while in England the figure has halved to just 1154.
The shocking statistic means 33 times more people are being forced to endure excruciating long delays north of the Border.
It comes as NHS England launches a 10-year recovery plan along with plans for an updated app allowing patients to book appointment and even visit an 'AI doctor'.
Dr Zubir Ahmed, a surgeon turned Labour MP for Glasgow South West, said: 'After a 20 year career as a surgeon in the NHS – the majority of it working in Govan – I have seen the Scottish NHS at its best and now at its worst.
'Scotland's NHS has seen the 31-day and 62-day cancer waiting times standards missed, 860,000 Scots are stuck on NHS waiting lists for tests with a third considering private treatment.
'In the words of the esteemed chair of the BMA Dr Iain Kennedy, 'the figures show that the NHS is dying before our very eyes'.
'The NHS is dying despite more staff working ever harder and more money being spent on it than ever before.
'The frustrating part for me as someone who has worked in the NHS all my adult life is the solutions to these challenges lie within the NHS but in Scotland, we don't have a government that has the desire or will to change direction.'
Ahmed has called for a greater use of technology to help drive up performance.
He added: 'The UK Labour government will deliver a single patient digital health record controlled by the patient and accessible to any health professional that you want to see it.
'There will be neighbourhood health centres with advanced diagnostics capability open 12 hours a day, six days a week.
'The 10-year plan would mean an NHS in your pocket with a turbocharged NHS app to book and check appointments, interact with specialists who care for you and an AI enabled doctor next to you.
'While being able to contribute to this revolution excites me, it frustrates me too because, in the Scottish NHS, we remain on a different path of managed decline.
'We continue to churn analogue solutions for a digital age, burden staff with more administration and keep patients more and more at arm's length from their own healthcare information.
'There is no Scottish NHS app, no proper workforce plan and no strategy on how to embrace technology and no desire to learn the lessons how to do it better from other parts of the country. '
Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie added: 'Scotland's NHS is fighting for survival but the SNP is flat out of ideas. Elsewhere in the UK, people will benefit from falling NHS waiting lists, a cutting-edge NHS app and a comprehensive recovery plan.
'If the SNP was capable of fixing the crisis in our NHS, it would have done it by now. Our NHS might not survive a third decade of SNP government.'
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Latest figures show monthly A&E performance at its best since July 2023 and delayed discharge at its lowest since October 2023.
'Our plan to improve our NHS is working and we will build on this progress by increasing capacity and investing to tackle the longest waits to ensure patients get faster access to care.'
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