Highlands and Islands MSP Edward Mountain has called on the SNP Government to tackle a ‘ticking timebomb’ of a backlog of operations in NHS Highland.
Edward Mountain has made the call after the latest figures from ISD Scotland showed the backlog of operations that have resulted due to the Covid-19 shutdown.
In August 2019 there were 1196 planned operations in NHS Highland while in August this year there were 704 – a reduction of approximately 41 per cent.
Across Scotland, more than 100,000 operations have been postponed during the first five months after the pandemic.
Edward Mountain MSP is calling for temporary patient accommodation to be built at Raigmore Hospital to ensure more operations can take place.
Commenting, Edward Mountain MSP said:
“Right now we are facing a ticking timebomb when it comes to targets for patients waiting to be seen.
Fewer beds mean fewer operations are taking place in NHS Highland, which is why I am calling for temporary patient accommodation to be built at Raigmore Hospital.
In previous years we’ve seen temporary mobile theatres used at Raigmore Hospital to reduce waiting lists, surely we can take a similar approach with patient accommodation too.
The funding is there to make this happen. NHS Highland has received an additional £39 million in funding to support the pressures of Covid-19.
Neither the SNP Government or NHS Highland can afford to be slow in remobilising our health service as patients will suffer if they don’t receive treatment soon enough.
We need to see urgent action before it is too late.”
