Leading surgeons have warned that massive queues for NHS treatments are being addressed far faster in England than in Scotland, a leaked letter demanding urgent action shows.
Senior orthopaedic clinicians reveal the number of patients waiting more than two years for common operations such as joint replacement surgery north of the border is soaring, while NHS England is swiftly reducing the number of “long waiters”.
In a letter to John Burns, chief operating officer for NHS Scotland, they say almost 2,900 people in Scotland have been waiting beyond two years for orthopaedic procedures while England, with ten times the population, has reduced the number of people waiting this long to about 4,000.
They also say a review of patients in one Scottish health board
