Thousands of hours of surgery time wasted due to NHS ‘dysfunction’ – Labour

Thousands of hours of surgery time in a flagship hospital are being “wasted” because health boards are not making use of it, Labour has said.

According to data obtained by the party via a freedom of information request, more than 7,508 hours were lost last year due to under-running of theatre sessions at the Golden Jubilee University Hospital in Clydebank.

The hospital functions as the NHS National Waiting Times Centre, which is specifically designed to relieve pressure on waiting lists across Scotland.

The party said that 2,861 theatre sessions at the hospital were “unfilled” while a further 640 were cancelled – which they said would be “baffling” to Scots on waiting lists for surgery.

The figures also show that 838 theatre sessions had been cancelled in the first nine months of 2024/25, which the party pointed out was already 31% higher than the total for the whole of 2023/24.

In contrast, the figures show that in 2019/20 a total of 4,875 hours were lost due to under-running of sessions at the hospital.

Labour said the figures suggested health boards were not referring their waiting list patients to the flagship hospital, pointing to further statistics showing the number of patients referred to the hospital for general surgery was 43% lower in September 2024 compared with the same month in 2023.

They added that health boards which lack capacity are free to refer patients to the hospital, but that beyond a certain quota must fund the surgery out of their own resources.

Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie called on the Scottish Government to tackle this “dysfunction” so that more surgeries can take place.

“Precious time that could be used to operate on patients is instead being wasted due to territorial health boards not using the capacity that is at the Golden Jubilee,” she said.

“Scots waiting for surgery will find it baffling that there are operating sessions that are simply not filled.

“The SNP must remove this dysfunction at the heart of our NHS so that our surgeons can get on with operating and patients get on with their lives.

“Our NHS needs a new direction and Scottish Labour is ready to deliver it.”

According to figures released earlier this month, more than 700,000 people are on an NHS Scotland waiting list for a procedure.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We know that many people are still waiting too long for surgery but we are starting to see the impacts of our investment to clear the longest waits across the country.

“We have surpassed our pledge to carry out 64,000 procedures by end of March 2025 through £30 million of targeted funding, with boards reporting delivery of 75,500 appointments and procedures as of January 31 2025.”

“Our 2025-26 Budget will provide a record £21.7 billion for health – including £200 million to help clear waiting list backlogs, improve capacity and reduce delayed discharge.

“This record funding will help us ensure no one waits more than 12 months for a new outpatient appointment or inpatient/day case treatment by March 2026.

“We will also deliver over 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year which will ensure people receive the care they need as quickly as possible.”