Jackie Baillie has called for answers from candidate for First Minister, Humza Yousaf, after his disastrous stewardship of the NHS continues to worsen.

Some 61,740 more patients are on the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde waiting list compared to when he took over as Health Secretary – a 36 percent increase. This is even larger than the 27 percent rise across Scotland.

The number of patients waiting more than 12 weeks for an inpatient or day case admission has increased by 1000 and the median wait time has risen from 34 to 45 days. This has all happened under his watch within the health board area in which his Glasgow Pollok constituency lies. It is also the health board area which covers Jackie Baillie’s Dumbarton constituency.

The number on the outpatient waiting list in Greater Glasgow and Clyde has increased from 113,290 at the end of June 2021 to 142,551 at the end of last year. The median wait time has increased over that period from 82 to 115 days, while Humza Yousaf has been Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. In that period, almost 50 percent of those waiting for outpatient treatment have waited more than 16 weeks.

When he took over as Health Secretary, there were 32,644 on the waiting list for the eight key diagnostic tests. According to the latest stats, that figure now stands at 50,575. The percentage of these patients waiting six weeks or less to be seen was 61.7 percent in May 2021 but has now plummeted to just 40.2 percent.

Just over two thirds (68.1 percent) of people who presented at the accident and emergency unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley where people from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond attend, were seen and admitted, transferred, or discharged within the four-hour standard for the week ending 19^th February.

Jackie Baillie said: “Mr Yousaf’s disastrous stewardship of our NHS has made him the worst Health Secretary since devolution. He is letting down people from my constituency, in Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond very badly and the outlook is even worse when compared to the average across Scotland.

“He has presided over sky-high wait times in A&E, chaos with delayed discharge, skyrocketing cancer wait times and an increase in both outpatient and inpatient wait times. This is having serious effects on people being able to access the treatment they need and will ultimately cost lives.

“He has shown absolutely no ability to solve these problems. Instead, he has chosen to impose a pay deal on nurses, ignore the issues facing our NHS, and to top it all, he has thrown his hat into the ring in a bid to fail upwards as First Minister.

“In every job he has had in government Mr Yousaf has been a failure. It couldn’t be clearer that his ambition has outstripped his ability, and now patients must pay the price for the SNP’s failure.”