NHS Scotland ‘broken & collapsing’ as top A&E medic calls for urgent overhaul

SCOTLAND’s NHS is “broken” and “collapsing” and an overhaul system is urgently needed, a leading A&E doctor warned yesterday.

The British Medical Association Scotland’s Dr Lailah Peel also said she was unsure if ministers who stage “photo opportunities” in hospitals were aware of the grim reality on the ground.

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Her comments came amid soaring waiting lists and after record low performance in casualty wards in recent months.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf – who makes regular visits to hospitals for media calls – released an NHS “Recovery Plan” 15 months ago, which rivals say has flopped.

Asked if politicians understand the realities of the crisis, Dr Peel – a medic at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, said: “I hope that they do, but I don’t know because I’m not seeing the action that’s actually changing what’s happening on the ground.

“I haven’t seen a politician in an A&E department when it’s actually been busy. Other than.. you know, photo opportunities and things like that.

“I’m not sure that they do. I really hope that they do, but I’m not seeing enough to show that.”

Dr Peel was speaking on BBC One Scotland’s Sunday Show after leaked minutes of a high-level NHS meeting showed top officials floated the idea of a “two tier” system where better–off people would pay for treatment.

The prospect was later rubbished by SNP ministers.

But Dr Peel said there needed to be “open and honest conversations” with the public about the future of the NHS and how it should be structured, adding: “The system is broken.”

She said: “It’s adored all the world over because it is a fantastic system – when it works. Right now, it is not working.

“It has not been working for a long time. And it has gradually gone down that path.”

A lack of care home beds to discharge older people to means many wards are full – with a knock-on effect for A&Es, which can’t move patients on.

Dr Peel was asked about comments from Donald Macaskill, from industry body Scottish Care, suggesting growing pressure on care home members would heap further weight onto the creaking NHS.

Dr Peel said: “The NHS is already collapsing. So it’s concerning that could get so much worse.”

Numbers of Scots on waiting lists have rocketed by more than 140,000 in the past year to nearly 748,000 – about one in seven of the population – compared to 448,000 at the end of 2019, pre-Covid.

And A&E wait times have risen.

Dr Peel said by the end of her shift on Saturday, people were waiting “five, six hours”.

Scottish Tory shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “This is a damning indictment of Humza Yousaf. Dr Peel points out that, for all his photo ops in hospitals, the Health Secretary doesn’t understand the reality on the ground.”

Asked about Dr Peel’s comments, SNP deputy leader and Scottish Government minister Keith Brown said there was a “serious situation” but claimed a “structural situation” meant Scotland did not get enough health funding.

He added: “It’s one reason why I think we have to be independent.”