Scots patients are being forced to borrow money or remortgage their homes to pay for private treatment due to NHS waiting lists, an MP has warned.
Elaine Stewart said almost one in six people in Scotland were now waiting for some form of treatment and many could not “bear the pain” any longer.
The Labour MP for Ayr and Carrick spoke out today as official figures found 1,642 Scots waited more than 12 hours to be seen at an A&E ward in the week ending December 29.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “Almost one in six Scots are stuck on an NHS waiting list. People are borrowing money and remortgaging their homes to go private because they can’t bear the pain.”
Stewart went on to claim the SNP Government had “abandoned the principles of NHS care at the point of entry”.
Wes Streeting, the UK Health Secretary, replied: “I strongly agree and, as I said during the general election campaign, and quoted regularly by the SNP, all roads lead to Westminster and down that road from Westminster is a record increase in funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula.”
Streeting continued: ” know some have expressed concerns at the lack of detail on plans to drive down waiting times.
“The Scottish people can therefore compare and contrast with the ambition of our elective reform plan announced by the Prime Minister yesterday and then decide at the next Scottish elections who they trust to govern – the SNP with their rotten record, or a Labour government that will get on and deliver.”
It comes after Scotland’s leading medical body warned that the NHS will struggle to make it through another year without urgent reforms.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said “transformative” changes were needed and predicted a large increase in people going private.
A study last year found there had been an 80 per cent rise in people seeking treatment from the private sector as NHS waiting times soar.
Health think-tank the Nuffield Trust suggested people could be making the move “out of desperation as NHS provision flatlines”.
The SNP Government is also facing criticism for failing to reduce waiting times in A&E wards.
Neil Gray, the Health Secretary, today blamed an increase in flu cases for the NHS in Scotland facing “very high levels of winter pressure”.
The SNP minister spoke out as data from Public Health Scotland showed in the week ending December 29 found just 58.4 per cent of patients in A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
That was the joint fifth worst performance on record in weekly figures stretching back to 2015.
Gray said: “It is clear from these figures that the NHS is currently facing very high levels of winter pressure and demand. This has been exacerbated by higher than normal levels of influenza infection in the community.”
The latest figures showed 23,986 went to the emergency room for help in the week ending December 29 – with 9,983 of them there for longer than four hours.
Jackie Baillie, Labour health spokeswoman, said: “The SNP is setting all the wrong records when it comes to Scotland’s NHS. Rather than using the rest of the year to prepare for winter pressures, the SNP’s complacency has plunged our NHS into chaos.
“For thousands of Scots, the festive season meant a harrowing wait of more than 12 hours in A&E.”
She added: “After 18 years in power, it’s clear that the SNP is incapable of getting to grips with A&E.”
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