Emma Roddick MSP visits National Treatment Centre with Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care

Emma Roddick MSP yesterday visited the National Treatment Centre (NTC) in Inverness with Neil Gray, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. During their visit, which marked two years of operation for the centre, Ms Roddick and Mr Gray highlighted the incredible work achieved by centre staff in their commitment to serving patients across the Highlands.

Commenting on the success of the centre to date, Ms Roddick said:

“The National Treatment Centre has been instrumental towards delivering crucial healthcare services for people in the Highlands and Islands. Despite continued slashes to healthcare budgets from Westminster, centres like the NTC demonstrate that an SNP government will continually deliver lower wait times and higher quality services compared to the rest of the UK.

“It was an honour and a privilege to meet with the National Treatment Centre’s diligent NHS staff, who work tirelessly to provide high quality care to our communities, and to be able to share the best of the Highlands with our Cabinet Secretary.

“The Highlands has a habit of showing the rest of the country how things can be done better, and the NTC is no exception. Staff here have taken a great SNP policy and really run with it – getting patients off waiting lists, into high-quality treatment, and then onto a better quality of life.”

The NTC in Inverness is one of several within a broader network of ten centres announced by the Scottish Government in 2015. These provide the highest possible standards of care each through their own specialities, and are designed in consultation with clinical teams.

The centre is committed to deliver at least 40,000 additional procedures over the next year, getting Highlanders off the waiting list for hip operations, knee replacements, and cataract treatment, and is equipped with 24 beds, five operating theatres, and 13 consulting rooms.