The intense pressure on NHS services was laid bare yesterday by the revelation that 396,771 Scots are waiting to see a specialist for an outpatient appointment.
It was also announced that Scotland’s A&E waiting time performance hit a record low for a third week running.
Performance against the four-hour waiting time window for A&E fell to
75.1 per cent, far short of the Scottish Government’s 95 per cent target.
This target has not been met since July 2020, when figures were artificially low as people chose to avoid hospitals due to Covid fears.
Outpatient services are still down 22 per cent on pre-pandemic levels and with Covid case numbers on the rise, the situation could soon be even worse.
There can barely be a family in Scotland which has not been touched by ever-growing waiting times for NHS treatments.
In the build-up to this year’s Holyrood election the SNP promised a full-scale post-pandemic remobilisation of the health service.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged to increase inpatient, day case and outpatient activity to 10 per cent above pre-coronavirus levels within a year.
But right now many will be wondering whether that is still achievable.
The Scottish Government’s strategy is bold but the sheer scale of the task means it could still end up falling short.
Scots could soon be demanding a really radical transformation of
our NHS.
The truth hurts
It doesn’t take Greta Thunberg to point out that we need to do more to halt global warming, although her searing honesty makes people sit up and listen, and even take offence.
The Swedish eco-warrior wasn’t singling out Scotland when she said the country was not a “world leader” on climate change. No country in the northern hemisphere is doing enough on climate change and no amount of exceptionalist rhetoric will make us better than other countries.
Thunberg’s judgment is what our own should be. We should measuring our governments by the action they take rather than the words they use.
Having Green MSPs wearing ministerial hats does not mean that we are doing right by the environment even if it helps give that appearance.
Voters of every country have to be persuaded and led by policy on the radical changes that need to come in our daily lives to help heal the environment.
There is much talk of a “just transition” away from fossil fuels.
But until voters see real progress and investment in green jobs they will remain sceptical about environmental homilies from politicians.
