Swinney vows to bring down number of Scots on NHS waiting lists John Swinney has vowed to fix problems faced by Scotland’s NHS, such as delayed discharge, saying he hopes to reduce the number of Scots on waiting lists by the end of the year.
Speaking to journalists following his speech, Mr Swinney was asked about the Government’s plans for the NHS and if the total figure for Scots on NHS waiting lists – thought to be more than 800,000 – would fall by the end of the year.
Discussing delayed discharge in Scottish hospitals, also known as bed blocking, he said: “My assessment of that is that we probably would have seen a much larger increase in delayed discharge had we not taken the actions that we’ve taken to reduce that as much as we possibly can do.”.
The First Minister was questioned about the SNP Government’s record on the NHS after he gave a speech in Edinburgh, warning of a “catastrophic” reduction in service delivery if MSPs fail to pass a budget by the late February deadline.
The SNP leader’s speech warned that populism would be fuelled if the public believe politicians are not delivering, saying this would be the outcome of Holyrood failing to agree a budget.
