Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of fobbing off chronic pain patients by blaming the pandemic for treatment delays.
The First Minister was asked about mum-of-two Liz Barrie after the Sunday Mail highlighted her three-year wait for a steroid injection.
In response to a question from Labour MSP Monica Lennon, Sturgeon said: “I cannot even begin to find the words to express my appreciation for that work, understanding the pressure that they are working under.
“There are many patients, including the individual cited, who are having disruption to their care.
“We will do everything that we can to mitigate those impacts but we come back, as we so often have during the pandemic, to the hard reality at the centre of this.
“The impact on services comes from the pandemic. As cases go up, we see a bigger impact in people being off work sick or having to isolate, with an inevitable impact on services.”
It emerged last week almost 200 people have died in Scotland while waiting to be treated for chronic pain over the last five years – many of them before the pandemic started.
Former nurse Liz, from East Kilbride, has been unable to work since being left in agony after a fall more than a decade ago. She is in her 50s. She said: “This response from the First Minister is completely unacceptable.
“She is blaming the pandemic for the outrageous delays being endured by chronic pain patients but this is a problem which predates Covid-19.
“I am supposed to receive two injections a year but it looks like I will be waiting three years for my next one – and there are many more people like me.
“That is not just caused by Covid disruption – there are deeper issues with priorities and resources.
“I have been waiting 23 months for treatment and I have waited the same length of time a decade ago, so the pandemic is not to blame.”
The Scottish Government said: “Every time cases go up, that puts more pressure on NHS staff and services.”
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