Urgent Change Needed to Save Scotland’s NHS

An independent investigation into the state of Scotland’s NHS has warned that “more of the same will not be enough” to save the health service for future generations.

A report carried out by Mike McKirdy, a retired consultant surgeon from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, revealed that the median wait time for an NHS 24 call to be answered has risen from 9 seconds in 2014/15, to 22.5 minutes in 2024/25.

It also found that NHS staff are around 50% more likely than the general population to experience chronic stress, and that private healthcare admissions have increased by 55% since 2019/20.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “”Our NHS is our most precious public service, but as doctors themselves have warned the very existence of the service is in danger.

“The situation uncovered by the McKirdy Report is one of governmental failure with Scots paying the price

“This landmark report shows the SNP’s utter failure to recover from the impact of the pandemic is because of their inability to modernise our NHS for the future.

“Enough is enough – we don’t need more undelivered strategies; we need bold and meaningful change to fix our NHS and to tackle the waiting list crisis.”