SNP has credible plan on NHS despite delayed discharge problem, says Gray

Health Secretary Neil Gray has insisted the SNP is the “only party with a credible plan” for the NHS in Scotland – despite figures showing an increase in time spent in hospital by those well enough to leave.

The number of days spent in hospital by patients medically well enough to be discharged increased to 55,547 in February – a rise of 2% on the same month last year.

Public Health Scotland data also showed that an average of 1,984 hospital beds were occupied each day by patients suffering from delayed discharge – with this up from 1,973 in January 2026.

The new data on delayed discharge – which covers patients well enough to leave hospital but who have to stay while the wait for care arrangements to be put in place – was released at the same time as figures showing a rise in planned operations by the NHS.

A total of 25,520 procedures were scheduled for February – with this up by 1,595 (6.7%) from the same month in 2025.

Public Health Scotland stated that over the course of the last 12 months, from March 2025 to February 2026, there were 304,044 operations planned – with this 19,154 (6.7%) higher than the previous 12 months.

“This reflects the post-Covid pandemic trend of generally increasing, planned operations,” Public Health Scotland said.

However, it added that “numbers are yet to reach those typical of the pre-pandemic period”.

With First Minister John Swinney having made tackling NHS backlogs a priority, Mr Gray said: “These new stats make one thing absolutely clear – John Swinney has a plan for our NHS and it is working.

“Operations are up, waiting lists continue to fall, we have more GPs per head than England and our GP walk-in centres are springing up across the country – that’s what you get with an SNP Government on the side of our NHS.”

Insisting that “only the SNP can be trusted with Scotland’s NHS”, he added: “As England braces itself for yet another NHS strike under Labour, not a single day has been lost to strikes in Scotland’s NHS thanks to the SNP in government.

“We are the only party with a credible plan for our NHS and we are determined to see it through.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie, however, claimed that “the SNP’s litany of broken promises are causing chaos in our NHS and misery for patients and staff”.

She added: “More than a decade ago the SNP promised to eradicate delayed discharge, but the issue is still piling pressure on hospitals and harming patients.

“Five years ago Scotland was promised an NHS recovery, but the number of operations taking place still hasn’t recovered and A&E is still in chaos.

“Incompetence has consequences and the SNP’s catalogue of NHS failures is costing lives.

“These shameful figures show John Swinney and the SNP do not have the answers to this crisis – we need a change in government to save our NHS.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane, meanwhile, said that “SNP ministers should hang their heads in shame at these dire figures”.

The Tory stated: “They promised to eradicate delayed discharge more than 10 years ago, but after two decades of SNP incompetence, it’s become the shocking norm for thousands of Scots, who are fit enough to leave, to be languishing in overflowing hospital wards.

“Delayed discharge triggers a domino effect across our health service and costs hard-pressed taxpayers hundreds of millions every year – money that should be used to bolster frontline services.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “On any given night, there are 2,000 people marooned in hospital when they don’t need or want to be there.

“The SNP promised they’d get on top of this problem a decade ago but it’s now costing the NHS an eyewatering £1.2 million a day.

“It goes to show that until we fix the crisis in our social care system, we won’t be able to fix the crisis in our NHS.”