Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Patient waits 687 days for therapy
LIVES are being put at risk due to rocketing waiting times for mental health patients in Tayside, it was claimed today.
Figures released by NHS Tayside show that one patient in 2017-18 waited a staggering 687 days to be referred to a specialist for psychological therapy.
The year before, the longest wait was 376 days. No patient in the region waited more than 13 months to be referred in 2015-16 or 2016-17, but last year, more than 40 people did.
North East region Scottish Conservative MSP Bill Bowman said: “This sudden spike in waiting times is of great concern. Lives are at stake. And I can’t begin to imagine the frustration of someone asked to wait 687 days for any kind of treatment on the NHS.”
Dr Jean Turner, the former chairwoman of the Scottish Patients Association, said t he figures are “distressing”, adding: “The wait, and the uncertainty for the patient and their families, is awful. It’s very worrying.”
Jenny Marra, North East Labour MSP, said that mental health staffing was key to the problem. She said: “At a meeting last week with NHS Tayside, managers told me that they are looking at many different options to get more doctors.
“I urged them to do this quickly and report back.”
A spokesman for Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Like many other boards across Scotland, we are facing a national shortage of trained staff in a number of psychological specialities.
“In addition, we are facing a significant increase in demand. Regrettably, this has meant a longer wait for some patients.
“We continue to actively recruit to a number of posts within the psychological services in our efforts to reduce waiting times.”
Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt said that under the current government, child and adult mental health services staffing had increased by 69%, with 28 more staff employed in the last year alone. She added: “To build on this, we’re working with boards to increase the recruitment of more specialists.
“While the average wait for treatment across Scotland is 10 weeks, many boards must improve their performance and I will continue to meet with those which fall short of our expectations. Our mental health strategy is investing £150m into services over five years to help reshape how services are delivered to the benefit of patients.”