South Scotland MSP Brian Whittle has called for the Scottish Government to set out how they will help NHS Ayrshire & Arran deal with the backlog of operations that were postponed because of coronavirus.
According to the latest figures, the numbers of operations taking place in Ayr & Crosshouse Hospitals during May and April this year were less than a tenth of what they were in the same months last year.
As restrictions introduced at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are eased and NHS boards begin to resume more services, Brian says the Scottish Government will need to support health boards in tackling the backlog of work.
While more services are restarting, health boards have indicated that ongoing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, like more intensive cleaning between procedures and staff wearing more PPE which has to be changed between procedures, will mean longer waiting times for patients.
Brian wants patients to be given a better idea of how long they’ll have to wait and believes the only way to clear the backlog will be through more resources from the Scottish Government.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“With all non-urgent operations being postponed to protect core services during the coronavirus outbreak, there was always going to be a backlog of operations for NHS Ayrshire & Arran and every other health board across Scotland.
Even before the pandemic, health boards across Scotland were dealing with a backlog of operations, now they’re faced with an even bigger challenge and they will need support from the Scottish Government to deal with it.
Patients need clarity about when they can get their operations and I’ll continue to push the Scottish Government set out how they plan to support health boards to deal with backlogs and deliver long awaited operations for patients.”
