Patients in Scotland waiting for Hip and Knee Surgery left in Agony as Ministers ‘paralysed by fear’ over second Covid-19 wave

Surgeons in Scotland are warning that a massive waiting list of patients has built up and many are in severe pain as the government is ‘twiddling its thumbs’ waiting in case there is a second Covid-19 wave.

A top surgeon claims patients face waiting lists of more than three years because Nicola Sturgeon’s government is ­needlessly ­blocking routine operations. Orthopaedic specialist Jon Dearing said he and many colleagues are “intensely ­frustrated” at being left “twiddling their thumbs” while wards and theatres lie empty.

Dearing said many patients who can afford to go private are travelling to England instead, the hip and knee specialist insisted a huge backlog of cases has been building up in Scotland because ministers are “paralysed by fear” of a second Covid-19 spike.

He said: “We should be ­getting going and the­ government is not letting us, we aren’t being given ­permission to get cracking.”

He went on to say that he has 30 patients waiting for joint replacements who are unable to get out and about because of the pain and he is very frustrated he cannot obtain permission to treat them.

Hundreds of private patients from Scotland, who simply cannot wait any longer, have reportedly sought treatment in the UK- preferring to pay privately rather than suffer any more pain or delays.