Scottish NHS ‘dying before our eyes', doctors' leader warns
Scotland's NHS is 'dying before our eyes', a doctors' leader is to warn SNP ministers as a new survey discloses patients are turning to private healthcare.
Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) in Scotland, will say it is 'abundantly clear' that there is now a divide between those who can afford private healthcare and those 'languishing' on NHS waiting lists.
Speaking at the BMA's annual representative meeting in Liverpool, he will accuse SNP ministers of repeatedly ignoring warnings about the state of the NHS and warn the situation 'will only get worse'.
Dr Kennedy is expected to say that 'immediate action is required' to reform the health service or more patients will have to 'use their own hard-earned money to go private.'
The BMA unveiled a survey showing almost a third of Scots (29 per cent) say they or someone else from their household had had to use private care in the past two years.
Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of those who did so blamed NHS waiting lists being too long, while nearly half (45 per cent) used their personal savings so they could have treatment.
More than four in 10 (43 per cent) Scots said their likelihood of using private healthcare had 'significantly or somewhat increased' in the past few years.
Six in 10 people said their confidence in being able to get a timely GP appointment had fallen in the past few years, with a similar proportion (63 per cent) saying the same about hospital appointments.
The Scottish NHS is battling record waiting lists and a report last November by the impartial Institute for Fiscal Studies warned that it was continuing to get worse while hospitals in England were improving 'substantially.'
The most recent figures, at the end of March, showed 63,403 people were waiting for outpatient treatment that had been continuing for more than a year, an increase of 34 per cent compared with 12 months previously. They included 5,262 cases of people waiting two years or more for treatment, the highest number so far recorded.
'Difficult decisions'
A review by Audit Scotland has warned that 'difficult decisions' may be needed about whether some NHS services can continue, with major reform 'urgently needed' to cope with growing demand.
First Minister John Swinney unveiled his NHS recovery blueprint in January and admitted there were crises in parts of the health service.
But unions and professional bodies representing Scotland's NHS medics attacked the plan's lack of detail and questioned where the funding and staff would come from.
Dr Kennedy will use his speech to point to a warning he issued last Christmas which said the health service would struggle to see out another year with its founding principles remaining intact.
He is expected to say: 'Our NHS should be free at the point of need. But, through today's research, I can reveal that almost a third of Scots say either they or someone in their household have had to use private healthcare within the last two years. Our survey showed that the majority are forced to do so, as waiting lists are simply too long. They just can't get the timely care they need...
'It is abundantly clear that Scotland has been divided into those who can afford private healthcare and those languishing on ever longer NHS waiting lists. Now, I don't believe anyone made an active choice to pursue this path towards a private health service.
'Rather, it is a failure to get to grips with an evolving population and its health needs. But, be in no doubt, the NHS is dying before our very eyes.'
'NHS reform must now happen'
He will urge ministers to shift 'the balance of care into the community', have a 'long-term focus on prevention' and create a workforce plan on how to recruit the medics the NHS needs.
Arguing that 'the chance to save our NHS remains', Dr Kennedy will say: 'We did ask the Scottish Government for a national conversation but were largely ignored. So, instead, NHS reform must now happen.'
The survey of 1,203 Scots was conducted by pollsters Diffley Partnership between May 30 and June 4. It found 17 per cent had accessed private medical care in the past two years and 14 per cent said a member of their household had.
Of those who had not used private healthcare, nearly half (46 per cent) said this was because they could not afford it.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Tories' Shadow Health Secretary, said: 'If BMA Scotland's devastating warning doesn't rouse failing SNP ministers, nothing will. Scotland's NHS is on life support thanks to 18 years of chronic mismanagement by the Nationalists.'
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