To take action on hospital waiting times

scrapped if they are “unhelpful to us in the sense of the quality of the service which is delivered to the patient”.

It has been a year since A&E targets were met and the Health Secretary admitted it is “not acceptable for people to be waiting longer for treatment than the targets that were set”.

She is planning discussions with A&E consultants, advanced nurse practitioners and the ambulance service to “look carefully at all the targets we have and where they make sense”.

But Freeman added: “While that is going on, it does not take the focus off the work that needs to be done to reduce the current waits in some of our elective procedures and in our cancer waits.”

One of her first promises is to “pick up the pace a bit” on integrated health and social care, which would enable patients to leave hospital sooner and free up acute beds.

She said: “The integrated team are working well – but it is good in some places, less good in other places.

“We also need to have a look at step-down models of care.”

That would involve patients who no longer need acute hospital care, but maybe only require physio or rehab to get back home, receiving treatment in a more appropriate setting.

Freeman has also inherited the NHS Tayside charity cash scandal – and has ordered a ministerial review of all territorial heath boards this year. She