An MSP has voiced “deep concern” over the spiralling number of patients on hospital waiting lists in Lanarkshire.
Meghan Gallacher, from the Scottish Conservatives, was responding to new statistics from Public Health Scotland showing that over 538,000 patients across Scotland are now on a waiting list.
More than 400,000 are waiting on an outpatient appointment, while close to 120,000 inpatient or day-case patients were waiting at the end of December.
Ms Gallacher says any delays will only impact patients’ recovery and might even lead to avoidable deaths.
In Lanarkshire, the number of outpatients waiting has increased by 84 per cent since March 2020, when COVID struck, while it has only decreased by a paltry 0.8 per cent since the previous quarter in September last year.
Central Scotland list MSP Ms Gallacher said: “These figures should concern everyone.
“While the pandemic has undoubtedly had a huge impact on the health service in NHS Lanarkshire, the number of patients on a waiting list is now beyond sustainable levels.
“More and more patients are paying the price for Humza Yousaf’s inaction and the longer they are kept waiting, the greater the impact on their recovery.
“The increase in the number of patients waiting is eye-watering and must be brought down as a matter of urgency by Humza Yousaf.”
The latest Public Health Scotland figures are for the three months to the end of December 2021.
The waiting list number is the highest since statistics were recorded in their current form about a decade ago.
Recent figures for NHS England showed six million people on waiting lists, a slightly higher rate than Scotland.
The latest statistics for Wales and Northern Ireland show much longer waiting lists.
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