We should all be entitled to healthcare when we need it, without having to get the FM to intervene! - Foysol Choudhury

In June 2022, my constituent Wendy was finally added to the orthopaedics out-patient waiting list after years of pain.

Last month, it was confirmed that she was on the knee replacement waiting list.

Wendy has been told her wait could currently be two and a half years, potentially taking her overall time waiting in pain to almost five years, devastatingly impacting her quality of life.

There is a legal guarantee of 12 weeks for in-patient or day case treatment under the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011.

Sadly, like Wendy, many patients across Scotland are not having this right met.

NHS staff work tirelessly to ensure we get the best level of care we can, but they are overworked by an overflowing system which is crying out for help.

We urgently need an NHS Recovery Plan which restores the public’s faith in our ability to deliver healthcare at the point of need and which sufficiently supports staff with enough time and resources to be able to do this.

I was happy to hear recently at First Minister’s Questions that Humza Yousaf was willing to look into my constituent’s case, but it shouldn’t take the First Minister intervening for patients to get the care they are entitled to in law!

We need to fix our NHS, for the sake of all patients, now.