Latest news with #WestDunbartonshire
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Ovarian cyst surgery: 'I feel forgotten after 100 weeks on urgent list'
Tracey Meechan's pain from an ovarian cyst is so severe she can't bend over - she relies on her children to help her put her shoes and socks day the 41-year-old wakes up and wonders if any new symptoms are going to has been on an "urgent" NHS waiting list for surgery for 100 weeks and now feels "forgotten".As the latest NHS Scotland waiting times data is due to be published, Mrs Meechan told BBC Scotland News that the wait for treatment has affected every part of her life. 'It's a drudge' She said: "I can't live my life to the fullest. I can't do the activities I want to do with my kids. I can't do the job that I love."I was signed off work at the end of January as a home carer because of the pain and the physicality of my job - I can't do it."My mental health has declined. This has been years and the symptoms have worsened. It's impacted my life, my personal life and my family."Mrs Meechan, from West Dunbartonshire, said she had to rely on her husband for household tasks."There is just no end point to it," she said. "It's a drudge."And there is only so much pain relief I can take and still try to be a mother to my children."The mother-of-five first went to her GP in 2021. She was found to have a large ovarian cyst and waited a year to see a gynaecologist after a referral from her monitoring the cyst for six months, it had grown, so she was put onto the "urgent" list for surgery. It is now 100 weeks later and she has not been called for an said: "I was under the impression it would be relatively soon as I was asked if I had any holidays planned in the immediate future. "About a year ago I was advised by the GP to try to get in touch with the gynaecology secretary myself and I have been doing that on a regular basis letting them know I am still here and still waiting."She considered private health care but her surgery would cost £8,000 - something the family could not was then she contacted the BBC through Your Voice, Your BBC News. She says the NHS has moved the goalposts each time she has called to ask about her surgery date."It's another couple of months, or they are working on the routine list, or working on the long waiters," she said. "I was told at week 92 that they were working on women round about week 98-99, so it should be another couple of months."When I did get to week 99, I called up because I wanted to keep my employer up to date. I was told they couldn't give me a date and still nothing is fixed yet." Before the pandemic it was rare for anybody to face a wait of a whole year to start NHS treatment, but that is not the case have new data from Public Health Scotland this morning, but the most recent figures show almost 25% of the entire inpatient waiting list for non-urgent care is made up of waits longer than 52 gynaecology, the specialty that Tracey comes under, there were 291 waits of over three always has consequences – more frequent visits to the GP to manage pain, struggles to work or stay healthy in other aspects of government says tackling waits is a priority and has set a target to create 150,000 additional appointments this will be hoping this is achievable given they did not fulfil a previous promise to eradicate all waits over a year by September 2024. In January First Minister John Swinney pledged to bring down NHS waiting lists and make it easier to get GP set out three priorities: to reduce immediate pressures in the NHS; shift the balance from acute services to the community and to use innovation to improve access to care, promising the health service would carry out an extra 150,000 appointments and procedures in the coming at the end of March, Health Secretary Neil Gray launched the Operational Improvement Plan, which he said would make the NHS "more accessible" and cut into backlogs for patients to be would involve an extra £200m in funding for weekend scan appointments and tests and an expansion of hospital care at announcement came after the public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, said NHS initiatives to improve productivity and patient outcomes have yet to have an Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been contacted for a response. The Scottish government said it had delivered around 3,300 additional gynaecology appointments and procedures in 2024-25 and that this year's £21bn health and social care budget would include almost £200m to reduce waiting lists with gynaecology earmarked for extra Health Minister Jenni Minto said: "Women's health is key priority for the Scottish government, and we were the first country in the UK to publish a Women's Health Plan, which aims to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women, in August 2021."Timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority in the next phase of our plan."Excessively long waits are not acceptable, and I sympathise with any patient whose treatment has failed to reach the standards we all expect from our health system. "We are working intensively with NHS boards to reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment."
Times
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
Reform beat Labour to second place in Clydebank by-election
Nigel Farage has declared his party is 'becoming the opposition to the SNP' after Reform UK pushed Labour into third place in a council by-election in Clydebank. The right-wing party's David Smith won 26 per cent of the vote in the Clydebank Waterfront ward on West Dunbartonshire council — edging out Labour by 1 percentage point, while the Conservatives took just 3 per cent. The SNP held the seat with 36 per cent of first-preference votes. The result, three weeks before the first Holyrood by-election this parliament on June 5, will alarm Labour Party figures who fear embarrassment in the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse constituency vote, which was called after the death of Christina McKelvie. • Can Reform win in Scotland? The Farage juggernaut
Telegraph
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Reform UK beats Labour in Scottish by-election
Reform UK has beaten Labour in a Scottish by-election. Nigel Farage's party criticised 'irrelevant' opposition after the surprise by-election result in Clydebank Waterfront, one of six wards in the council area of West Dunbartonshire. Reform UK came second to the SNP after voting reached stage seven, the most stages the election could have, with a head-to-head race between the SNP's Kevin Crawford and the Reform candidate David Smith. Mr Crawford won the seat with 1,331 first-preference votes revealed in the early hours of Friday morning. Mr Smith secured 919 first-preference votes over Scottish Labour's Maureen McGlinchey, who received 770 votes. The Scottish Conservatives mustered 87 votes. The by-election was held after James McElhill, the former SNP councillor, resigned citing health reasons. It comes ahead of a crucial by-election next month in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, following the death of MSP Christina McKelvie. Mr Farage is set to visit the constituency before the vote on June 5. Reform claimed the Clydebank result was 'truly historic for Scottish politics' as Richard Leonard, a former leader of Scottish Labour, said decisions by the current UK Labour Government have 'severely impaired' the party north of the border in the run-up to next year's Scottish parliament elections. Recent polling puts Reform above 10 per cent, which could result in up to 12 MSPs. Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, has been regularly criticised for unpopular decisions taken in the first months of his tenure in office, including reducing winter fuel payments for pensioners, not compensating the Waspi women and benefit cuts. More than 100 MPs are understood to have signed a private letter urging the Government to delay the changes and rethink, while dozens of Labour MPs are set to rebel against the Government's plan, paving the way for the Prime Minister's biggest revolt yet. North of the border, Scottish Labour has gone from winning the UK election and reducing the SNP to just nine MPs, to dropping to second in the polls ahead of next year's Holyrood vote, with some of the most recent data suggesting the party could drop below the surging Reform. 'I'll be honest with you, decisions being taken by Keir Starmer have severely impaired Scottish Labour's ability to get across its message about how we want social justice, how we want to make changes to the economy and so on,' Mr Leonard told BBC Radio Scotland. 'So, life has been made a lot more difficult for the current Scottish Labour leadership, I think.' Mr Leonard, a Central Scotland MSP who has said he will not seek re-election, served as the Scottish Labour leader between 2017 and 2021, when he was succeeded by current leader Anas Sarwar. The former leader refused to criticise his successor, instead saying he has confidence in the party's leadership in Scotland. 'I have to say that lots of people gave running commentaries on my leadership and I'm not prepared to enter into a running commentary on Anas's leadership,' he said. 'But I'm quite sure that with a year to go, there is still a good prospect of Labour clawing back the gap which has opened up in the polls, I think, with the right policies.' Asked if he had faith in Mr Sarwar and his team, Mr Leonard added: 'Oh yes, of course I do.' A spokesperson for Reform UK said: 'What happened last night in Clydebank was truly historic for Scottish politics. 'Polls have shown the rise in support for Reform UK, putting us in second place in some, but last night we witnessed real-life votes pilling up for us and against Labour. 'The Tories are done, Labour are irrelevant. If you want to beat the SNP across Scotland, only Reform UK is strong enough to do it.'
