The scandal of Scottish NHS nurse forced to go private by long waiting list for urgent health check
Women told they must wait 69 weeks for ‘urgent’ gynaecology appointments are being failed by the SNP
In October 2024, after a routine cervical screening, Helen* received an urgent referral for further gynaecological checks. This should have taken no more than two weeks, as Helen, an NHS nurse for 30 years, knew well.
Yet after three months, Helen still had not heard anything. After chasing up her referral, Helen spoke to a woman who told her that there was a lengthy backlog of urgent referrals and that she herself was on a waiting list.
When it comes to women’s health, the SNP government is all hot air and little action. Its much-trumpeted Women’s Health Plan set out measures to increase access to cervical smear tests, a vital tool in the early identification of cancer.
Yet four years on, the latest Public Health Scotland figures showed that only around half of Scottish women in the poorest areas were taking up screening, far less than the 80 per cent target.
A five-year wait
Meanwhile, it is NHS England that is taking the lead in rolling out DIY smear test kits. Screening, though, is only effective if it is backed up with action.
Sadly, Helen is not alone in waiting in limbo for a gynaecological appointment, the clinical term for appointments covering women’s reproductive health. One woman in NHS Highland had to wait more than five years, while others in NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Tayside have been forced to wait more than four and three-and-a-half years respectively, according to Freedom of Information data obtained by Scottish Labour.
Indeed, the average ongoing wait for an inpatient appointment at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was nearly a year. Gynaecological appointments cover everything from the keyhole surgery needed to identify endometriosis to prolapsed wombs and complex contraception, but even when it comes to cancer, women can be left in limbo for months.
According to the SNP government’s own standard, no patient is supposed to wait more than 62 days from urgent suspicion of cancer referral to first cancer treatment – but in the first quarter of 2025, performance against this standard was at its worst point on record.
READ MORE: NHS: Thousands of Scots going private for eye surgery as waiting lists soar to over three years
‘Supposed to be a progressive society’
In Helen’s case, faced with a 69-week wait, she ended up paying for a private consultation instead, which thankfully gave her the all clear. But she remains concerned that other women caught up in the backlog may not be as lucky.
As she told me: "This is serious – we are supposed to be a progressive society but we are failing women. I know from my own background as a nurse that an urgent referral is for anything that is a recognised red flag requiring further diagnostic tests.
"I worry that someone could die because their cancer was not picked up soon enough, and that in turn will impact their whole family.”
To Helen, no matter how many plans an SNP government publishes, if women are being forced to wait 69 weeks for urgent gynaecology appointments, they are being failed. It’s time for a new direction on women’s health.
Jackie Baillie is MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and her party’s spokesperson for health. *Helen’s name has been changed.
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