THE health service in Scotland is facing a "ticking timebomb" of surgery backlogs, as figures reveal around 70,000 fewer operations than normal were scheduled during the first three months after lockdown.

Planned operations were put on hold in March, with the exception of urgent cases, as the NHS was braced for a surge in Covid admissions.

It is unclear exactly how many patients saw procedures such as hip replacements postponed.

However, reports by Public Health Scotland show that only 14,510 elective operatives were booked during April, May and June.

That compares to an average of 86,691 during the same three-month period over the previous four years.

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And of the 14,510 planned operations, 270 were still cancelled for "non-clinical or capacity reasons", which can include shortages of staff, beds, equipment or theatre sessions overrunning.

Patients in Lanarkshire faced the greatest drop in planned surgery, with just 510 operations scheduled between April and June compared to an average of 7,297 in the previous four years - a reduction of 93%.

The situation was similar in Scotland's largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where 1,971 operations were scheduled - a tenth of what would normally be expected.

In comparison both NHS Lothian and NHS Dumfries and Galloway continued to schedule around a quarter of the procedures they normally would - 3,867 in Lothian and 1,137 in Dumfries and Galloway.

However, 92 of those scheduled for Lothian were subsequently cancelled due non-clinical or capacity reasons.

Judith Park, NHS Lanarkshire's acting director of acute services, said Lanarkshire had been hit by a higher proportion of Covid cases compared to other parts of Scotland.

She said: “We appreciate how difficult it has been for people who have had procedures postponed as a result of the pandemic. 

"All health boards were asked to postpone non-life threatening elective procedures to enable the redeployment of clinical staff.

"We experienced a higher proportion of Covid-19 cases compared to some other parts of Scotland and we still have patients with Covid-19 in our hospitals now.

“Maintaining the safety of our patients and staff is our top priority. Patients will be re-appointed based on urgency but restrictions, to protect patients and staff from Covid-19, will remain for a considerable time.

"This will mean that some services may not be able to be resume as quickly as we would like.

"However, it is important that we restart services safely while ensuring there is capacity to deal with further cases of Covid-19."

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It comes after a Scottish Government report last week estimated that surgery will run in most health boards at "around 60% of pre-Covid levels for the next 24 months", but restrictions could last even longer "if there are further surges in Covid-19 incidence".

Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative health spokesman, said: “While it was right our NHS was focused on tackling Covid-19, there needs to be an urgent plan from the SNP Government to ensure that the backlog doesn’t spiral out of control and waiting time targets are routinely missed again.

“Right now, they are facing a ticking timebomb when it comes to targets for patients to be seen."