The SNP has been shamed over “broken promises” on women’s health as women are forced to wait years for hysterectomies. Scottish Labour accused John Swinney’s Nationalist administration of presiding over a national “scandal” in the NHS.
Shock new figures show the the longest waits in some health boards are more than 2,000 days – nearly six years. The figures show the average wait for a hysterectomy – an operation to treat womb-related health problems including cancers – has risen since 2019/20 in most health boards.
Last year, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said there were 43,800 women on the waiting list for gynaecology in Scotland in December 2021, a 95% increase from before the pandemic.
However, the latest figures from Public Health Scotland show that total had almost doubled again to hit 78,159 by December 2024. The total includes 53,287 outpatients (including 33,767 waiting over 12 weeks) and 12,386 inpatients (including 9,205 waiting over 12 weeks).
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In NHS Lanarkshire, average waits are almost four-and-a-half times longer than they were in 2019/20, increasing from 61 days to 272 days in 2024/25. Average wait times in NHS Ayrshire and Arran have nearly tripled from 49 days to 145 in the same time.
The current median ongoing wait is more than a year in NHS Grampian, with patients waiting 408.5 days on average. In NHS Borders, this figure is 290 and in NHS Lothian it is 269. The longest waits experienced by women have risen even more drastically, with women in NHS Grampian waiting as long as 2,122 days.
The longest waits in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside were all more than 1,000 days – around three years. In 2024/25, the longest wait in NHS Borders was almost 10 times longer than it was in 2019/20, while in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde it was almost nine times longer.
Scottish Labour accused the Scottish Government of “failing women” with “broken promises” on healthcare. The party said women’s health had fallen “by the wayside during a time of crisis”.
Carol Mochan, Labour’s spokeswoman for women’s health, said: “In communities right across Scotland, women are being badly failed at the hands of the SNP. As our NHS fell into crisis on the SNP’s watch, women’s health was allowed to fall by the wayside.
“Women are being forced to pay the price for SNP incompetence as they are left to suffer for months or even years waiting for hysterectomies. Behind the SNP’s warm words, plans and strategies on women’s health is a record of broken promises.”
She added that her party would “deliver where the SNP has failed and rebuild our NHS, tackle long waits and finally give women’s health the attention it deserves.”
The Scottish Government launched a women’s health action plan in 2021, with 66 ‘action points’ to “drive improvement”. Then women’s health minister Maree Todd, who was then women’s health minister, said at the time: “We want Scotland to be a world leader when it comes to women’s health.”
In January 2023, Professor Anna Glasier OBE was appointed as the first Women’s Health Champion for Scotland. However, critics say that none of this has resulted in action to tackle the long waits for treatment experienced by women.
In 2019/20, the median wait for a hysterectomy across all health boards was 48 days, rising to 52 days by 2021/22 and 72 days by 2022/23. In the two most recent years, the median wait across the health boards which provided figures stands at 77 days.
Earlier this year, research the cost of a hysterectomy in a private hospital in the UK had soared as more women are forced to turn away from the NHS. MyTribe Insurance Experts, who track the cost of private healthcare, said the average cost a hysterectomy in Scotland was now £9,335 – the third most expensive in the UK.
“The chronic underfunding of the NHS over the past decade has meant that women are sadly too often unable to access gynaecology services, often leaving them in intense pain,” said David Rowland, the director of the Centre for Health and the Public Interest research group.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Government is investing £200 million to reduce waiting times. We are supporting access to specialist women’s health services and tackling long waits for treatment. Gynaecology was an area targeted in our £30 million investment in planned care – delivering 3,500 additional new outpatient appointments. Scotland was the first country in the UK to publish a Women’s Health Plan.”
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