NHS is crying out for help under SNP

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today said that the country’s NHS is “crying out for help” as new figures revealed record long waits at A&E, some of the worst delays in discharges from hospital and thousands fewer operations than before the pandemic.

New figures published today reveal:

• June 2026 was the worst June on record for 4 and 8 hour waits at A&E, with 32.1% of patients waiting over 4 hours and 11.1% of patients waiting over 8 hours.
• As at the June 2026 census, 1,948 people were delayed in their discharge from hospital. This is almost 100 more people than were delayed in June 2025 and the third highest number of delays this year so far.
• There have been 34,634 fewer operations between June 2025 and June 2026 than there were in the equivalent period before the pandemic.

On A&E waits, Alex said:

“Barely a month goes by when there isn’t a new record worst at A&E. The SNP are normalising their broken promises to staff and patients.

“It is abysmal that these waits are making people think twice about attending A&E, even if they are in severe pain.

“Right now, far too many beds are occupied by people who are medically ready to leave but can’t because the care package to get them home isn’t available.

“That’s why we need to fix social care- it’s how we fix the NHS. My party would encourage more people into caring professions and boost pay and conditions for care workers so that everyone is seen in good time.”  

On delayed discharges, Alex said:

“For every patient who is delayed in leaving hospital, there is another patient who will have to wait even longer to get the care and treatment they need.

“The SNP promised to end these delays more than a decade ago, but they’ve failed and it’s now costing the NHS £1.2 million a day.

“The only way to tackle this is to fix our broken care system. Scottish Liberal Democrats want to boost pay and conditions for care workers, recruit more people into caring professions and deliver new key worker housing to help them live and work in the communities they serve.”

On cancelled operations, Alex said:

“The SNP have failed to get the health service back on its feet since the pandemic.  There’s a huge backlog of operations and staff don’t have the support they need.

“We need to increase capacity across our NHS, which is why Scottish Liberal Democrats fought hard to persuade the government to restart work on hospital projects like the Belford replacement in Fort William.

“We also need to see ministers listening to my party’s calls for a rolling 10-year NHS Workforce Plan, which would identify gaps in staff and resolve them early on.”