The number of people waiting for a planned operation on NHS Scotland has continued to increase despite promises to cut the waiting lists.
Year-on-year, the total number of people waiting for an inpatient or day case procedure has increased by around 3000 to 156,192 by the end of September this year.
This included a record 38,373 waits that had been going on for more than one year - up from 36,701 at the end of September 2023, and from 34,927 in July 2022, when then Health Secretary Humza Yousaf set out targets to "eradicate" long waits.
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The plan envisaged that by the end of September 2024, there should be virtually no one left in Scotland on a waiting list for an inpatient or day case operation who had been waiting longer than a year.
Previous targets to eliminate waits over 18 months and two years have already been missed.
The statistics show that, by the end of September this year, there were still 17,731 patients who had been waiting over 18 months, including 7,157 who had been waiting over two years.
Both figures are higher than they were a year ago despite the Scottish Government announcing a £300 million investment in October 2023 to tackle waiting list backlogs in the NHS.
The cash was expected to be spent in yearly £100m instalments, from 2024/25 until 2026/27.
However, the Herald recently revealed that just £30m has been given to health boards so far this year.
Scottish Labour Health spokeswoman, Jackie Baillie said thousands of Scots were being "left in limbo".
She said: “These long waits not only cause needless pain and anxiety for patients, but pile pressure on our NHS.
“Patients are being failed and fantastic NHS staff are exhausted and demoralised from papering over the cracks of SNP failure.
“The SNP is gambling with the very future of our NHS by failing to get to grips with this crisis.
“We need a real catch-up plan to drive down waiting lists and put an end to these shameful long waits – starting by following the UK Labour government’s lead and expanding capacity at evenings and weekends.”
He added: “This SNP government have only themselves to blame for their mismanagement of our health service.
"They have failed our hardworking NHS staff, who haven’t got the beds, safe staffing and resources they desperately need.
“As we enter the winter months, it is crucial that the Health Secretary acts now and does not repeat the failures of his predecessors.
"He must therefore rewrite Humza Yousaf's botched NHS Recovery Plan.
"To help more people leave hospital on time, the Liberal Democrats are also demanding a new UK-wide minimum wage for care workers that is £2 higher.
"You can’t fix the NHS without fixing care."
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “We know people are waiting too long for treatment but we are determined to reduce waiting times.
"We continue to target resources to clear the longest waits and are working with all boards to maximise current resources and productivity.
“Significant activity is underway through our £30 million investment to target pandemic backlogs.
"This will see around 12,000 additional new outpatient appointments, around 12,000 additional inpatient/day-case procedures and over 40,000 diagnostic procedures delivered.
“We are making progress and diagnostics waiting lists are at their lowest since the ending of covid restrictions in April 2022 – this is welcome and we are determined to build on this.”
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