Operations lost since the pandemic tops half a million

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has said that only a change of government will fix the crisis in our NHS after new analysis by his party found that more than 500,000 operations have been lost since the pandemic first began.

Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of Public Health Scotland figures has compared average pre-Covid levels of NHS activity with the number of operations scheduled in every month over the past three years.

This analysis reveals that since the beginning of the pandemic in March 20220, a total of 503,175 have been lost. This figure represents the number of operations that would have taken place had the numbers returned to their pre-pandemic levels.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:  

“The SNP have completely failed to get our health service back on its feet following the pandemic.

“John Swinney can promise the earth for our NHS all he likes, but after 18 years of broken promises, no one believes him.

"Staff and patients do not need another empty programme for government; they need a change of government."