More patients die on hospital wait lists

A RECORD number of Scottish patients are dying while on waiting lists to see consultants, figures reveal.

The official NHS stats show an increase of more than 50 per cent in the number of people who died before they were seen between 2013 and 2017.

A 25 per cent increase has been recorded in the number dying over the same period while waiting for treatment following an initial consultation.

Simon Barker, head of the BMA’s Scottish consultants committee, said the figures were a result of “chronic underinvesting”.

He added: “It is a natural consequence of the decision to not increase investment to match demand. I see patients in my clinic and they say, ‘It is awful I have had to wait 12 months and you tell me it is another few months before I get treatment.’

“I say, ‘I am sorry. That is the resource constraints we have to live with.’”

Data from NHS statistics body ISD Scotland showed 1240 patients had died in the first three months of 2017 while waiting for their first hospital appointment.

That represented a record since the current Scottish waiting lists system was created in 2013.

It was up from 799 in the first three months of 2013, an increase of 55 per cent.

Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “This is the consequence of no workforce strategy in the health service, with NHS staff over-worked and under-resourced.”

A spokeswoman for Age Scotland said: “What is vital now is that there is a full explanation for why this increase has taken place and action taken.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Regrettably, there is always a small proportion of patients who pass away while awaiting treatment.”