Surgeons V Sturgeon

Top medic warns of three-year waiting lists while Government needlessly blocks operations

- John Ferguson

A top surgeon claims patients face waiting lists of more than three years because Nicola Sturgeon’s government is needlessly blocking routine operations.

Orthopaedic specialist Jon Dearing said he and many colleagues are “intensely frustrated” at being left “twiddling their thumbs” while wards and theatres lie empty.

He revealed many patients who can afford to go private are travelling to England.

But the hip and knee specialist insisted a huge backlog of cases has been building up here because ministers are “paralysed by fear” of a second Covid-19 spike.

He said: “We should be getting going and the Government is not letting us, we aren't being given permission to get cracking.

“In England and elsewhere in Europe, elective surgery started weeks ago but in Scot land, it ’s still being blocked. I don’t know why they’re doing this but my personal opinion is there are two elements to it.

“The first is that the NHS still isn’t set up in some areas of the country in terms of having staff in the right places, though in many areas it is.

“The second is, they’re terrified of a second spike. They’re paralysed by the fear of being seen to do the wrong thing. But when we had the first spike, surgical wards sat empty while surgeons were sat twiddling their thumbs.

“We just weren’t overwhelmed the first time around.

“The Government appears to be trying to keep beds free in case there’s another outbreak. But when you’re doing day-case surgery, those people are in and out within hours so that isn’t an issue – day-case surgery should have restarted weeks ago.