There might be a health crisis but at least the SNP aren’t short on rose-tinted spectacles. It was always going to be interesting to see how Humza Yousaf approached the health service in his new programme for government – given the massive decline in performance on his watch. But rather than adopt a solemn approach (or even, gasp, apologise for the health service failings), Yousaf struck a somewhat triumphant tone.
‘The National Health Service is already making progress in recovering from the pandemic,’ he declared. ‘We have the best-performing accident and emergency departments in the UK!’ He continued: ‘In the last year, the number of people waiting more than 18 months for treatment has almost halved’. It’s decreased by 40.6 per cent — but Mr S will let him off for that minor arithmetical error. What is less forgivable is Yousaf’s omission that the outpatient waiting list has increased overall, and more specifically for those patients waiting over one year (from 35,000 to over 37,000) while the numbers of those waiting over three years have almost doubled (from 121 to 220).
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