The Scottish Government should “rip up” its NHS recovery plan and start again, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have said.

Last year, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Health Secretary Humza Yousaf unveiled the plan, which pledged to spend £1bn improving healthcare in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

An analysis by the Scottish Lib Dems looked at the state of the NHS in the past compared to the most recent figures.

It showed that A&E waiting times have worsened in the past year, from 76.5% of people waiting less than four hours before being admitted or discharged in August last year to 67.9% in the most recent figures.

The party also found the number of cancer patients waiting longer than 62 days for treatment was 76.9%, the worst on record, in the first quarter of this year, compared to 83.1% between July and September last year.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton urged the Scottish Government to go back to the drawing board with its plans.

“I look at these healthcare statistics with increasing despair,” he said.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Politics Matters