Mr Ross also highlighted figures from the deputy chair of the British Medical Association, which said 60 patients a week could now be dying due to long waiting times at A&E.
She also voiced hope that pressure on the NHS caused by rising Covid and flu cases would “abate over the weeks to come”. Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton raised the woman’s case as he challenged Nicola Sturgeon on the state of the health service during First Minister’s Questions. He told the chamber that she suffers from a hormonal thyroid condition requiring regular testing and treatment, but was told by her GP she would have to wait a long time for these to be done.
“These are the risks that people are taking for the sake of their health, and all for the want of basic access to primary care. Can I ask the First Minister, is she embarrassed by this?”