15k PATIENTS SUFFER YEAR-PLUS WAIT
QUEUES for hospital treatment are growing, with more than 15,000 people waiting more than a year to be seen.
And almost 24,000 patients have waited more than 12 months for an outpatient appointment. Waiting times were already failing before the Covid crisis.
The Government set a treatment time guarantee of 12 weeks for all patients but the latest figures show just 61.4 per cent of patients had waited three months or less.
By December 2020, 34,456 patients had waited more than 39 weeks, including 15,179 who waited a year or more. A&E waiting times also showed no signs of recovery, with the latest weekly figures showing just 85 per cent of patients were seen within the target of four hours.
Scottish Lib-Dem health spokesman Alex ColeHamilton MSP said: “There is a power of work to be done to remobilise the NHS and catch-up on treatments and operations lost to the pandemic.”
THE SISTER of a fisherman who vanished almost six weeks ago has issued a plea for help to find the “devoted dad”.
Ross Ballantine,39, was onboard the Nicola Faith with skipper Carl McGarth, 34, and Alan Minard, 20, when it set sail from Wales in January. A coastguard search was launched but no trace was found until a life raft belonging to the boat washed ashore in Kirkcudbrightshire.
Lucy Winstanley, 36, who is helping to raise money for specialist search equipment, said: “The worst part is not having any answers. You can’t grieve.”