Scots going private and paying £2.5k for cataract surgery amid an SNP waiting list crisis for eye operations
Latest figures show 8,500 people north of the Border shelled out around £2,500 for the operation last year – more than double the number who went private in 2019.
Some 19,000 people are currently stuck on an NHS waiting list for the eye surgery across Scotland.
One patient under the care of NHS Grampian has been waiting for more than three years to receive treatment.
The figures expose the scale of the NHS waiting times crisis under the SNP – and the lengths to which Scots are going in order to get timely care.
Public Health Scotland last month admitted waits of more than two years for specialist NHS appointments and treatment were at record highs.
It said the number of people stranded on a waiting list after being referred for an outpatient clinic more than two years ago stood at 5,262.
That is despite First Minister John Swinney setting out in January that he would bring down waiting lists.
Last night, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: 'I can only imagine the panic and distress that these waits are causing for patients. I know NHS staff are working hard to get waiting lists down but they are not getting the support they need from bosses and ministers... It's clear the SNP have no plan for tackling long waits for complex specialties.'
Data obtained via the Private Healthcare Market Information group shows that 8,500 Scots paid for cataract operations out of their own pocket in 2024, more than double the 4,075 people forced to go private for the surgery in 2019.
Figures obtained by Mr Cole-Hamilton's party found long NHS waits for cataract surgery – in which the eye's cloudy lens is swapped for a clear artificial lens – at a number of health boards.
NHS Grampian admitted one person had been waiting for 1,253 days – almost three-and-a-half years.
The longest waits elsewhere include 869 days in NHS Shetland, 824 days in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 680 days in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, 644 days in NHS Borders, 548 days in NHS Fife, 532 days in NHS Lanarkshire and 508 days in NHS Highland.
Meanwhile, the figures show that in total 18,956 Scots are on a cataract waiting list, with the longest list being in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where 3,207 people have been referred. Embattled NHS Fife comes in second, with 2,440 patients waiting for the surgery.
Embattled NHS Fife comes in second, with 2,440 patients waiting for the surgery.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'We have allocated £106million to health boards to help tackle the longest waits and deliver over 150,000 additional appointments and procedures.'
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