Cole-Hamilton responds to damning series of health stats

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said his party will continue the fight to fix Scotland’s NHS as new figures revealed huge waits for tests, treatment and care packages, thousands of people waiting at A&E and poor public satisfaction with a range of health and care services.

A series of health figures published today show that:

• There are 755,327 ongoing waits for NHS tests and treatments.
• There are 9,572 people waiting for either a social care assessment or for a care package.
• This week, 3,404 people waited over 8 hours at A&E, while 1,522 people waited over 12 hours.
• A new health and social care study found that 32% of people rated the arrangement to speak to a mental health professional poor or very poor.
• The same study also found that a quarter of carers disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement they felt “supported to continue caring”.

On NHS waits, Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“This is a damning indictment of the SNP’s failure.

“Waiting lists are far worse than those in England, the rollout of national treatment centres has stalled and repeated SNP promises to speed up treatment have fallen flat.

“Across Scotland, thousands of people placed their trust in Scottish Liberal Democrats, and we will repay that trust by focusing every single day on delivering for staff and patients.”

On social care assessments, he said:

“These figures are proof of the SNP repeatedly ignoring the crisis in care.

“In our manifesto, Scottish Liberal Democrats set out plans to invest £400 million into care, money to recruit more care workers, to keep care homes open and to recognise just how foundational all of this is to the health of our NHS.

“Fixing social care is how we free up space in hospitals and get you faster treatment. Scottish Liberal Democrats will be using our position in this new parliament to bang that drum again and again."

On A&E waits, he said:

“When the SNP first came to power there were virtually no 12 hour waits. It now happens for more than a thousand patients every week.

“The only way to cut these waits is to fix the broken social care system. The gaps in community care are a bottleneck that's causing 2,000 people a night to be marooned in hospital when they don't need or want to be there.

“You simply cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care.”

On 32% of people rating the arrangement to speak to a mental health professional poor or very poor, he said he said:

"This shows how many people were let down by the SNP scrapping their pledge to recruit 1,000 extra mental health workers.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats have proposed training and recruiting more professionals. We want to put them close to where you live in locations like your local surgery and new walk-in mental health centres.

"Scotland deserves world-class mental health services and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have a realistic plan to end years of SNP neglect."

On family carers saying that they don't feel supported to continue caring for their loved ones, he said:

"Many carers are on their knees. They deserve far more support.

"It's why Scottish Liberal Democrats have proposed raising the support they receive by £400 a year, alongside new help for young carers balancing education and caring for their loved one.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats are the party of care."