Cole-Hamilton slams SNP for more miserable health figures

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has criticised the SNP for presiding over thousands of people waiting hours at A&E, huge numbers of patients marooned in hospital, long waits for mental health care and worrying vacancies amid nursing and midwifery staff.

New figures published today reveal:

• This week, 3,574 people waited over 8 hours at A&E, while 1,500 waited more than 12 hours.
• In April 2026, 1,950 people were marooned in hospital due to their discharge being delayed.
• At the end of March, more than 2,800 adults, children and young people who were waiting or had started treatment at the end of the quarter were waiting more than a year.
• As at the end of March, there are 2,710 vacancies among nursing and midwifery staff.

On A&E waiting times, Alex said:

“The fact that there were virtually no 12 hour waits when the SNP first took power shows just how much they have failed.

“To cut these horrific waits, we need to fix the broken 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 delayed discharge, Alex said:

“Lots of these patients are medically ready to leave hospital but are prevented from doing so because of shortage of care workers and care packages.

“The SNP promised to get on top of this problem a decade ago but it's now costing the NHS an eyewatering £1.2 million a day.

“The only way to fix these delays is to fix the broken social care system- my party made that a major priority in our election campaign.

“We want to boost pay and conditions, establish clear career pathways so more people choose to work in care and create new housing reserved for key workers.”

On mental health waiting times, Alex said:

“On the SNP’s watch, people are facing endless waits for mental health care, which only risks problems getting worse.

“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 nursing vacancies, Alex said:

“The problems with vacancies can be traced all the way back to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP cutting training places and claiming that was ‘sensible’.

“With staff now run ragged, they are struggling to provide the high-quality care patients need, and many are reaching for the door.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want better for our nurses and midwives so we can deliver first-rate healthcare to everyone. There needs to be a proper 10-year workforce plan for NHS and care to get on top of what they need.”