Latest news with #NHSRecoveryPlan
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Record
'Further blow' over new Ayr National Treatment Centre
The plans were put on hold in February last year due to funding problems. The future of The National Treatment Centre at Carrick Glen Hospital, Ayr, won't be known until December. The plans were put on hold in February last year due to funding problems. However, the Scottish Government is now saying there won't be any update on its future until the end of the year. Ayrshire Live previously told how NHS Ayrshire & Arran were forced to 'pause' any new capital projects, including Carrick Glen, from the Scottish Government because of budget constraints. In April 2022, £1.8m of public money was used to purchase Carrick Glen Hospital in order to take it out of the private sector. At the time the overall plan was to build 10 National Treatment Centres across the country and thus reduce waiting times. It was supposedly part of £400m investment in 10 centres across the country from the Scottish Government. They were touted to play a 'pivotal role' in reducing waiting times. Carrick Glen was due to be operational in 2025 and help reduce waiting times in orthopaedics. However, with no fresh finance going towards its completion, the Carrick Glen Hospital plan, which passed all planning hurdles in the summer of 2023, remains in a state of paralysis. And news of this fresh delay has been greeted with dismay. South Scotland Labour List MSP, Colin Smyth, said: 'This is a further blow to plans for a treatment centre in Ayr. 'New National Treatment Centres were at the heart of the SNP's NHS Recovery Plan and these delays spell disaster for waiting lists in the south of Scotland.' Mr Smyth continued: 'This will be very worrying news for patients in south Scotland who are languishing on waiting lists, and show just what a serious situation our NHS is facing. 'Hospitals in Ayrshire, and across the whole of south Scotland, are under huge amounts of pressure and every month we see yet more record high waiting lists. 'Our amazing NHS staff are doing all they can, but they can't work miracles and need the improved facilities they were promised.' The Scottish Government did say they were spending more than £1bn on NHS capital investment this year. A spokesperson added: 'As part of our own Scottish Spending Review, we are undertaking a full review of our capital spending to prioritise the available funding towards projects that drive progress against our priorities. 'We will provide clarity over which projects and programmes will receive funding in the medium term when we publish our new infrastructure pipeline, alongside the 2026-27 Budget and Scottish Spending Review. 'The publication of the new pipeline will put our capital budget back on a sustainable trajectory.'
Scotsman
05-06-2025
- Health
- Scotsman
Shocking waiting list rises show SNP's warm words aren't fixing the NHS
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Imagine you are feeling unwell and it becomes so bad you need to see a GP. After days of calling at 8am, you finally see a doctor, who refers you to a specialist. You wait and wait for an appointment… and a year later, you are still waiting. This was the case for 63,406 Scots waiting for outpatient appointments in the year to March 31. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In May 2024, John Swinney took over as First Minister from a failing Humza Yousaf. In January at the launch of the Scottish Government's NHS Recovery Plan – the fifth in four years – Swinney pledged with much fanfare to reduce waiting lists. READ MORE: Scots urged to check for early signs of skin cancer The SNP promised more GPs but numbers have actually fallen (Picture: Christopher Furlong) | Getty Images 'Seen without delay' But a year after Swinney was installed as First Minister and four months after he made his promise, the figures tell a different story. In the 12 months to March 2025, the number of outpatients waiting more than a year for an appointment rose by 34 per cent, while those waiting for an inpatient appointment rose by 2.9 per cent. And those waiting more than a year for a diagnostic appointment rose by 15.6 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Swinney promised to reduce waiting times – but across the board they have risen. Outpatient appointments are key in identifying symptoms that might or might not be serious. Stomach pains, skin conditions, breathing problems – these are all the kinds of symptoms where a GP might refer a patient to a specialist. The NHS Scotland's own 2017 report The Modern Outpatient called them 'a critical point in the pathway to diagnosing cancer early – or providing reassurance that there is nothing to worry about', going on to note that 'this is therefore a time when patients need to be seen without delay'. Yet under the SNP, thousands of patients are left for months or even years wondering whether or not to be scared. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Broken promises The shocking rise in outpatient waits is just a snapshot of the way that our NHS is fraying at the seams under the SNP. And it's just the latest of the SNP's broken promises on health. They promised to hire 800 more GPs – yet the number of patients per GP rose by 227 in a decade, while the number of whole-time equivalent GPs actually fell. Less than half the Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Centres promised in the SNP's 2021 manifesto have appeared. Also missing in action are the new scanners that would allow hospitals to make faster diagnoses – and a recent freedom of information request by Scottish Labour found that hundreds of scanners are more than 10 years old. Diagnosing and treating conditions is not always straightforward, and the NHS relies on thousands of specialists working together to do so. It is a machine that only works if every part is kept in running order, with the huge surge in outpatient waits the equivalent of a warning light coming on. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The truth is that if the SNP government had a good idea we would have seen it by now. After 18 years in government, the SNP must stop resting on its own rhetorical laurels and start paying attention to what the data is telling them. There are hundreds of thousands of patients out there waiting for them to do so.
Daily Record
04-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Nicola Sturgeon's WhatsApp messages expose bitter SNP rift over 'awful' NHS recovery plan
The former First Minister took aim at then-Health Minister Humza Yousaf's NHS Recovery Plan revealing an SNP civil war. Nicola Sturgeon's private WhatsApp messages have been released after a four-year transparency battle, exposing a rift at the heart of the SNP. The former First Minister said she was "furious" with then-Health Minister Humza Yousaf's NHS Recovery Plan during the Covid pandemic—just days before she publicly endorsed it. The Express reports that the messages reveal Sturgeon's harsh behind-the-scenes criticism of Yousaf's work, even as she later described the plan as a bold step forward. In one exchange, Yousaf admitted the plan was off track, telling her: "From the beginning this document hasn't been in the right place, far too policy heavy and not focused enough on ambitious outcomes that are easily understood by the public. That said, buck stops with me so we will work hard this week to get a plan that meets your expectations." Sturgeon replied bluntly: "Yeah it needed a lot of work." The next day, she wrote: "I'm reading a revised draft of the recovery plan and still feeling need to translate parts of into acceptable English – and that is before I reach any substance. It's v frustrating." She added: "I'm going to spend some serious time today trying to get this plan into even a semi decent shape, but I'm pretty furious that they have sent it to me again in such a poor state." Yousaf responded: "After this meeting with bereaved families I'm about to go into I'll get back onto the team. I am obv happy to speak to you to hear specific concerns." To which Sturgeon shot back: "My specific concern is that it's awful." Privately, Yousaf also told Public Health Minister Maree Todd: "Forgive me I'm behind on papers (story of my life) have had to rewrite the NHS recovery plan this week as FM took a hatchet to it." Yet just eight days later, Sturgeon launched the recovery plan, praising it as one that would "deliver an NHS that is innovative, sustainable and stronger than ever before." The plan faced immediate backlash. Critics from both political and medical communities called it inadequate and lacking substance. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: "Nicola Sturgeon was right about one thing – this NHS Recovery Plan was useless. Her brutal slapdowns expose the chaos and dysfunction at the heart of the SNP." Conservative deputy spokesperson on mental wellbeing, Tony Whittle, added: "Our NHS is still suffering the devastating consequences of Humza Yousaf's dire post-pandemic proposals." A Scottish Government spokesperson defended the plan, saying: "The NHS Recovery Plan committed more than £1 billion to help the health service deal with the continuing impact of the pandemic."
