Central Scotland MSP Graham Simpson has blasted Humza Yousaf’s "flimsy" NHS Recovery Plan, calling for more to be done to prevent appointment cancellations in Lanarkshire.
Mr Simpson’s call comes after new statistics showed that the number of operations across Scotland was still 33 per cent lower than in February 2020, before the pandemic.
In April, there were 1700 operations cancelled on the day, or the day before, they were scheduled. to take place.
In Lanarkshire there has also been a 33 per cent reduction since just before the pandemic.
The number of operations taking place also fell by 10 per cent between March and April this year.
The Tory MSP says this is symptomatic of the crisis facing NHS Lanarkshire right now, with little sign the health minister has a plan to fix it.
He added that far too many patients in Lanarkshire are suffering due to operations being delayed.
MSP for Central Scotland, Graham Simpson said: “Patients across the region are suffering in pain as vital operations and procedures continue to be cancelled or delayed.
“There appears to be no end in sight, despite the improving picture surrounding Covid in recent months.
“Humza Yousaf’s flimsy NHS Recovery Plan simply isn’t cutting it. It is simply unacceptable that the number of operations has fallen over the last month, and we are still nowhere near the level of operations that were taking place prior to the pandemic.
“This situation cannot continue for patients, many of whom in Lanarkshire have been waiting for well over a year.
“These patients deserve and urgently need to see a proper plan from the SNP Health Secretary to deliver an increase in the number of operations.”
The Scottish Government published an NHS Recovery Plan in August 2021 which sets out plans for health and social care over the next five years.
Backed by over £1 billion of funding, the Plan will support an increase in inpatient, day case, and outpatient activity to address the backlogs of care, which will be supported by the implementation of sustainable improvements and new models of care.
The latest waiting times data published last week shows that the number of treatment time guarantee patients seen in quarter ending March 31, 2022 was 45,998, an increase of 3.6 per cent (up 1602 patients) from the previous quarter.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "April 2022 was one of the most difficult months for the NHS in the course of this pandemic. The vast majority of cancelled operations were postponed for clinical reasons – only 2.5 per cent were because of non-clinical reasons, which is the same as the previous month.
"We are working with NHS boards to get those who have had treatments or procedures postponed due to COVID-19 the care they need as quickly as possible. Throughout the pandemic NHS Boards have ensured that urgent, maternity and vital cancer services continue as usual and have worked hard to ensure vital cancer care remains in place where clinically agreed.
"April is typically a month of lower activity, but despite this 90.7 per cent of operations were performed as planned – an average of 556 operations each day."
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