Figures from the Scottish Government’s statistics division has highlighted the extent to which NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has significant capacity issues.

In 2019 alone, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has had to cancel over 4000 planned operations. Over 700 cancellations were down to a lack of capacity from the health board.

These figures are part of a wider uncovering of health service failings with figures highlighting that patients were stuck in hospital for a total of 45,632 days in September 2018 – with an average of 1,521 beds needlessly occupied each day as a result of delayed discharge.

Jackie Baillie MSP said:

“How much longer is Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP government willing to sit back as our health service continues to fail to meet the needs of patients in my constituency and across the country?

“These figures are further evidence that NHS GGC is in desperate need of urgent intervention as the health board is clearly unable to keep up with demand. Patients in my constituency spend months and months patiently sitting on an operation waitlist. To then get to the top of the list and be told that their operation has been cancelled due to a lack of capacity is unacceptable for Scotland’s biggest health board.

“The Cabinet Secretary for Health and her appointees in the Health Board need to realise that patients aren’t getting the care that they need due to their total mismanagement of our health service.”