SNP regurgitating broken promises as patient flight from NHS creates two-tier healthcare

Between January 2023 and June 2024, Scots paid 32,000 times for private inpatient health treatment, some even for cancer

Last week, Finance Secretary Shona Robison used the Scottish Budget to pledge to reduce the number of Scots waiting more than a year for NHS treatment or appointments. Firstly, what a lack of ambition, but, secondly, it should have been done before.

The promise was originally made in 2022 and was supposed to be met for outpatients by the end of March 2023 and, for inpatient/day case patients, by September 2024. Instead, the number of Scots waiting more than a year for such treatment has soared by 39 per cent since July 2022, to more than 100,000.

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Imagine if a chief executive failed to deliver on their target for two years in a row, and then tried to dress up the same target as if it was a new idea. Most likely, they would be shown the door.

The UK Labour Budget gave the SNP a record settlement, including an additional £789 million of health-related consequentials in 2024-25 and £1.72 billion for Scotland’s NHS in 2025-26. The SNP’s NHS pledges are simply policy on autorepeat, not real solutions for the challenges facing our NHS.

Record numbers of Scots are deciding to pay for private treatment, rather than join long NHS waiting lists (Picture: Christopher Furlong)Record numbers of Scots are deciding to pay for private treatment, rather than join long NHS waiting lists (Picture: Christopher Furlong)
Record numbers of Scots are deciding to pay for private treatment, rather than join long NHS waiting lists (Picture: Christopher Furlong) | Getty Images

Mystery at Golden Jubilee

The SNP also pledged to tackle delayed discharge, yet the number of Scots stuck in hospital is at a record high – while patients wait in corridors because there aren’t enough beds.

And take the mystery of the Golden Jubilee Hospital. This is Scotland’s National Waiting Times Centre, the hospital specifically designed to help deal with waiting list backlogs so that patients can get the treatment they need.

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Yet Scottish Labour freedom of information requests revealed that referrals to the hospital for general surgery from health boards had halved between September 2023 and 2024. This at a time when nearly one in six Scots are on an NHS waiting list.

Scottish Labour has long argued that the number of health boards is creating unnecessary bureaucracy and proposed reducing them from 14 to three. Rather than replicating the same work, this would allow resources to be focused on the frontline and remove obstructions to working together in patients’ interests.

There are many other examples of waste in the system, such as the Scottish Government spending millions on expensive agency staff and spin doctors.

£12,000 for hip replacement

Outside the bubble of SNP wishful thinking, the true story of the past two years has been that Scots who can afford it are voting with their wallets. Data for the second quarter of 2024 saw the highest ever reported private inpatient and daycare admissions in Scotland, both patients with health insurance and those self-paying, according to the Private Healthcare Information Network.

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Between January 2023 and June 2024, Scots paid out of their own pockets 32,000 times for private inpatient health treatment, some even for cancer treatment. Of course, there are many Scots who can’t afford the £12,000 needed for a hip replacement.

For all the bluster in the Budget, the SNP can’t hide the spectre of a two-tier health system emerging on their watch. A Scotland where those who are the most vulnerable are also left languishing in pain for the longest.

No wonder the SNP don’t want to dig too deeply into their own record. It’s easier to just keep promising the same targets on repeat.

Jackie Baillie MSP is Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson

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