Scottish Labour vows to tackle women’s health crisis

SCOTTISH Labour has vowed to end the ‘systematic failures’ that have left more than 5,000 women waiting more than a year for gynaecology treatment.

The party said the SNP’s record on women’s health was ‘barely worth the paper it was written on’ due to poor delivery.

Official figures show 2,785 women waiting more than 12 months for inpatient or day case gynaecology treatment in February, or 22 per cent of cases in the specialism. A further 2,646 had waited more than a year for outpatient appointments.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: ‘Women’s health continues to be under-researched and under-resourced on the SNP’s watch.

‘The SNP talk the talk, but their plans aren’t worth the paper they are written on as long as promises aren’t being delivered.’ Labour’s women’s health manifesto will today promise quicker access to colposcopies, laparoscopies and hysterectomies, faster endometriosis diagnosis and menopause clinics in every health board.

There would also be a drive to improve maternity services, with more health visitor support for new families.

Labour says it will also commit the NHS to delivering single-sex wards based on

biological sex. Scottish leader Anas Sarwar said: ‘Too many women have been let down by systematic failures. Under the SNP, women’s healthcare has been allowed to fall even deeper into crisis.’

Women’s health minister Jenni Minto said: ‘The Scottish Labour manifesto is clear, they would cut £1billion from our NHS. That would send our NHS, and progress in women’s health, backwards. Women’s health is a priority for the SNP.’