A pledge to increase the number of NHS knee and hip operations lies at the heart of a bold package of Scottish Conservative manifesto policies to improve healthcare for elderly patients.
To reduce the huge waiting times that are forcing people to raid their life savings to pay for private treatment, the party would boost funding for knee and hip operations, including by buying capacity that is available within the NHS in England and Northern Ireland, as well as in the private sector.
Other key proposals to help older patients – which Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane will discuss on the campaign trail in Glasgow today – include:
- Boosting investment in dementia research to help find long-term cures for the disease
- Supporting the Palliative Care Matters for All strategy and ensuring it is backed up with proper funding
- Opposing any attempts to centralise social care, so that the needs of those in care can be decided locally
- Restore the Cold Weather Payment for pensioners, in addition to retaining the Winter Heating Payment, to help them keep the heating on during the toughest winter weeks
Dr Gulhane said older people are being failed after years of SNP mismanagement of the health service.
He added that long waiting times for crucial operations like knee and hip replacements leave vulnerable elderly people either languishing in pain or, if they can afford it, paying to go private.
Dr Gulhane said that the Scottish Conservatives’ plans would improve NHS treatment for elderly people, but that the situation would continue to get worse if the SNP win a majority on May 7.
He urged voters across Scotland to back his party on their peach ballot paper to stop the Nationalists winning outright.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “Nearly two decades of SNP mismanagement has run our health service into the ground – with older patients paying the price.
“Too many are languishing in pain for months, even years, waiting for crucial operations like knee and hip replacements, with some raiding their life savings for expensive private treatment.
“Successive incompetent nationalist health secretaries have failed to come up with a plan to address this crisis. It’s shameful that this is how the SNP treats our elderly.
“Our bold package of measures would increase the number of knee and hip operations, boost investment in dementia research, improve palliative care and ensure that social care provision is decided locally, not centrally.
“These plans would ensure that older people get the care they deserve after paying into the system their whole lives – and that includes restoring the Cold Weather Payment, on top of keeping the Winter Heating Payment, so that they can keep the heating on when winter bites.
“But, if the SNP get a majority on May 7, the situation in our health service will only get worse because they will obsess over independence at the expense of everything else.
“That’s why you need to vote for the Scottish Conservatives on your peach ballot, to stop an SNP majority and improve NHS treatment for elderly patients.”
Notes to editors
Relevant Scottish Conservative manifesto commitments:
Increase the number of knee and hip operations funded by NHS Scotland to avoid the need for patients to pay thousands of pounds to go private. Far too many people are being forced to pay for private knee and hip operations due to the SNP’s failure to get on top of rising NHS waiting lists. We would boost funding for knee and hip operations, including by buying capacity that is available within the NHS in England and Northern Ireland and in the private sector, in order to reduce the amount of time people are having to wait for treatment.
Oppose any attempts to centralise social care so that the needs of those in care can be decided locally. The SNP botched an attempt to centralise social care during the last session of the Scottish Parliament but have not ruled out making future changes to the system that would take powers away from local authorities. We would rule out taking power away from local authorities and ensure that social care is still delivered at a local level.
Boost investment in dementia research to help find long-term cures for this disease. Dementia affects thousands of people across Scotland but there is still no cure for it. Scotland has world-leading research facilities in this field, so the Scottish Conservatives would boost research funding to help find a cure and ensure that all types of dementia research are supported, including childhood dementia.
Support the Palliative Care Matters for All strategy and ensure it is backed up with proper funding. We welcome the publication of the Palliative Care Matters for All strategy 2025-2030 but acknowledge that there is still far too much work to be done to improve palliative care in Scotland. So we would ensure this strategy is backed up with a new funding model to deliver the palliative care our country deserves.
Restore the Cold Weather Payment for pensioners to help them keep the heating on during the toughest winter weeks. The SNP decided to abolish the Cold Weather Payment when it was handed control over this benefit and replaced it with the Winter Heating Payment. The Scottish Conservatives would retain the Winter Heating Payment but would restore the Cold Weather Payment and pay it out to those on pension credit when the average temperature falls below zero degrees Celsius for a period of seven days or more.