Too many patients waiting too long for NHS care, Sturgeon tells MSPs

Too many patients are having to wait too long for care in the NHS, Nicola Sturgeon conceded, as she was told how an 80-year-old man waited more than 12 hours for an ambulance after breaking his neck on Hogmanay.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross used the case of the un-named patient as he called on the First Minister to sack Health Secretary Humza Yousaf “for the good of Scotland”.

Speaking about the Health Secretary, the Tory said: “His failures are creating risks to lives across the country.

“Scotland’s Health Secretary is making the situation worse, not better.”

During First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, he told how the man’s family had made seven 999 emergency calls as they waited more than 12 hours for help to arrive.

Mr Ross said: “On Hogmanay, a family visited their 80-year-old uncle. He’s had major heart surgery, hip operations and often struggles to breathe.

“When they arrived they discovered he had fallen and broken his neck. The family dialled 999 seven times and it took more than 12-and-a-half hours for the ambulance to arrive.

“Seven emergency calls, 12-and-a-half hours, for an 80-year-old who had broken their neck.

“His niece told us ‘the ambulance crews were brilliant, but we are disgusted at what our uncle has been put through’.

“This dire situation confirms yet again that this Health Secretary and this Government are not on top of this crisis.”

Ms Sturgeon told him: “There are too many patients right now waiting too long for treatment.”

She said she is working “every single day” with the Health Secretary to “take the actions that are necessary to support our NHS during these very difficult times”.

She also voiced hope that pressure on the NHS caused by rising Covid and flu cases would “abate over the weeks to come”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “The vast majority of patients in this country, even during these extremely difficult times, get excellent care on our National Health Service and that is down to the dedication of those who work in it.

“That is why they have my grateful thanks each and every single day.”

The First Minister denied reports that nurses in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – Scotland’s largest health board – are being asked to work 24-hour shifts.

Ms Sturgeon said NHS bosses in the region had announced on Wednesday that some elective surgeries are being postponed to “prioritise urgent treatment and cancer care”.

She insisted it is “inaccurate and misleading” to suggest staff are being asked to work for 24 hours.

“I would not expect any health board to request any member of staff to do that,” the First Minister said.

However, she told MSPs that NHS workers are “struggling” due to “unprecedented pressure”.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Staff across the National Health Service in Scotland, indeed staff across the National Health Services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are struggling right now.

“They are doing an extraordinary and magnificent job and my heartfelt thanks go to all of them.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also attacked the SNP’s record on the NHS, saying it is a crisis “15 years in the making”.

He said waiting lists in Scotland’s NHS are at their highest-ever level, with record levels of delayed discharge causing 58,501 bed days to be lost as a result.

Mr Sarwar said: “After 15 years of the SNP, our NHS is broken and the system is failing.

“Staff are being asked to do the impossible and patients are being asked to accept the unacceptable.”

Ms Sturgeon said “of course” there were challenges in the health service before Covid, but she stressed there are now almost 30,000 more staff working for the NHS in Scotland than when the SNP took office in 2007.

She added: “We will continue to work with, listen to, those on the front line of our NHS as we continue to strive to give them fair pay increases, and as we continue to support them to deliver excellent care.”