\n \u201cThe latest figures show our plan to support Scotland\u2019s NHS is working, delivering real benefits for patients. Not only are the total list size and longest waits coming down, but we are treating more people than last year.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n While the First Minister conceded there remained \u201cwork to be done\u201d, he said there were \u201cvery welcome improvements\u201d as pressures on the health service continue to ease from pandemic backlogs.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, the announcement comes with waiting lists still at record levels. As of September 30, more than 56,000 people had waited more than a year for an outpatient appointment, while more than 29,000 were facing the same delays for inpatient or day-case procedures.\n<\/p>\n
\n John Swinney meets patient Sandy Campbell during a visit to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (Image: Robert Perry\/Getty)\n<\/p>\n
\n The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh<\/a> welcomed the funding but urged ministers to make greater and more consistent use of national treatment centres.\n<\/p>\n \n Professor Rowan Parks, the college\u2019s president, said waits remain a \u201cmajor issue\u201d, with \u201capproximately one in nine of the Scottish population\u201d currently on some form of NHS waiting list.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cIn the long term there needs to be redesign and renewal of the way in which services are delivered,\u201d Prof Parks said, adding that national treatment centres could help tackle \u201chigh-volume, lower-complexity\u201d procedures more efficiently.\n<\/p>\n \n Five national treatment centres are currently operating, but further planned sites were paused by the government last year due to financial pressures. Prof Parks said he would \u201clove\u201d to see those plans restarted.\n<\/p>\n \n Opposition parties said the new money was too little to address what they described as a sustained failure in the management of Scotland\u2019s health service.\n<\/p>\n \n Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the funding was \u201ca drop in the ocean when our health service is in permanent crisis mode\u201d.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cFrontline staff are at breaking point and thousands of Scots are waiting over two years for treatment,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of tinkering round the edges, John Swinney needs to back our plans to cut red tape, reduce the number of middle managers and surge resources to the frontline.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n Scottish Labour<\/a> also increased pressure on the government after it emerged a Queen\u2019s Park footballer endured a 10-hour wait for an ambulance after suffering a serious knee injury during Saturday\u2019s Championship match against Partick Thistle.\n<\/p>\n \n Defender Charlie Fox collapsed in agony 24 minutes into the game.\n<\/p>\n \n Medics treated him on the pitch and stretchered him off, but the ambulance reportedly did not arrive until 1am.\n<\/p>\n \n The club confirmed he has since been discharged from hospital.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is the second footballer left waiting for an ambulance in recent months,\u201d said Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie. \u201cIt is absolutely clear this SNP<\/a> government is failing the people of Scotland. John Swinney must come clean and explain why people are still being forced to wait in agony.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n In September, the First Minister apologised to 19-year-old player Brooke Paterson, who waited for five hours on the pitch<\/a> with a double leg break in North Lanarkshire<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n The debate comes after former health secretary Jeane Freeman said the current state of the NHS was the result of failures by successive governments\u2014including her own.\n<\/p>\n \n Speaking to BBC Scotland<\/a>\u2019s The Sunday Show, Ms Freeman said ministers had too often prioritised electoral politics<\/a> over long-term planning and had not listened enough to frontline workers.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cSuccessive governments\u2014my own included\u2014do not take a long-term, beyond-the-electoral-cycle view of our health service,\u201d she said. \u201cThey do not take a view that says some of the people who best know what we need to do are actually our clinical and frontline teams.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n She argued that improving the NHS required \u201cwidespread\u201d input from staff at every level, from housekeeping and maintenance to consultants, doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.\n<\/p>\n \n Jeane Freeman said government’s had failed to properly tackle NHS reform\n<\/p>\n