I’m giving very personal leadership to NHS over winter, says Swinney
John Swinney has insisted he is giving “very personal leadership” to the NHS, as he said Scottish Government plans to reduce waiting times are not good enough.
The UK Government has announced plans to cut the number of people waiting over 18 weeks for NHS treatment in England by almost half a million over the next year, while Scottish ministers have said by March 2026 no patient should have to wait more than a year for either hospital treatment or an outpatient appointment.
Asked about the plans on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the First Minister accepted: “I don’t think it’s good enough.
“We’re looking to get waiting lists and waiting times down as much as we possibly can do.”
The First Minister said he is “supporting” Mr Gray in the response to this, as he stressed health is a “central priority” for the Government.
Mr Swinney said: “We’ve had over the Christmas and new year period, a really significant increase in flu cases, which has put a huge burden on the health service.
“I’m giving very personal leadership and attention to all of this.
“I’ve been doing it throughout the Christmas and new year period to make sure that the health service was able to deliver as much as it’s been able to deliver in very difficult circumstances.”
He said he wants to be “open with people about the challenges that we face within the National Health Service”, saying coronavirus is still having an impact on it almost five years after the first cases of the virus in Scotland.
He said that “because of the Covid situation”, there has been “a significant increase in waiting lists and waiting times”.
The First Minister conceded: “It will take us time to work through that.”
He also said Scotland’s more elderly population means patients seeking help have “more frailty” and can require more complex treatment.
Mr Swinney said this, together with longer waits for treatment, means that “sometimes the level of acuity that is presenting to the health service is more severe”, with this resulting in a “greater challenge for us”.
But with the draft Budget for 2025-26 including a record £21 billion of funding for health and social care in Scotland, Mr Swinney said: “We now have the resources available to us to strengthen the capacity of the National Health Service, which will allow us to undertake more procedures and more treatments.
“We’re already seeing more treatments and more procedures being undertaken, and I need to increase that to make sure that we address the needs and the priorities of people within Scotland.”