Health Minister in ‘cloud-cuckoo land’
Last week at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) Miles Briggs challenged the First Minister to apologise to Lothian patients who are facing waits of up to 45 weeks for initial orthopaedic appointments.
2169 patients in NHS Lothian have waited over the 12 week treatment time guarantee in the last year. In the last quarter, ending 31 March 2018, 638 (out of 1274 patients seen, i.e. half) waited over the 12 week treatment time guarantee with the longest waiting 10% of patients waiting on average 160 days, almost twice the 12 week treatment time guarantee. [1.IPDC Completed Waits tab]
There are currently 2280 patients on the waiting list 788 of which (almost a third) have been waiting over the 12 week guarantee. [2.IPDC Ongoing Waits tab]
The number of patients waiting over the 12 week waiting time guarantee has more than doubled since June last year, 314 at 30 June 2017 to 788 at 31 March 2018.
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative Health Spokesman, said: “Forty-five weeks for an outpatient appointment is totally unacceptable and for someone in pain this feels like an eternity.
“The current waiting times, just to get an initial assessment, are nearly four times longer than the Scottish Government’s own 12 week target and getting worse.
“As many constituents across Lothian know to their cost, a large number of whom have contacted me about this, Shona Robison is living in cloud-cuckoo land if she thinks things are improving within NHS Lothian orthopaedic services.
“This is a direct result of Shona Robison and the SNP Government’s abject failure to put in place the long term NHS workforce plans to ensure our local NHS can meet the needs of Lothian’s growing population and increasing number of older residents.”
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