Patients face wait of nearly two years

Some patients are having to wait almost two years for an appointment NHS Tayside.

The latest waiting time figures from the health board show urology inpatients are being told they will have to wait up to 97 weeks to be seen.

And some patients are even being referred to “independent providers” by the health board because of the excessive waiting times.

The 97-week wait for urology as of the end of November 2019 is also up from 81 weeks in October and 77.3 weeks in May last year.

Outpatient waiting times for urology are also spiralling, with waits currently standing at 60 weeks.

The waiting time target for both inpatients and outpatients is just 12 weeks.

This is despite a new urology treatment centre opening at Perth Royal Infirmary last summer, which is designed to be a ‘one stop shop’ for patients.

At the time, the PA reported this would create an extra 3000 urology appointments a year, including an additional 120 outpatients being seen a week.

However, a spokesperson for NHS Tayside has said the health board has recruited new members of staff to the urology team in a bid to cut these waiting times.

They said: “The public should be assured that the most clinically urgent patients are prioritised.

“The inpatient urology service has met the 31-day cancer waiting times target since April 2019 and in five of the last six months, cancer performance was 100 per cent against the 31-day target.

“We recognise that routine waiting times in our urology service are longer than we would wish and we understand that this can be upsetting for patients and their families.

“During 2019, the urology department experience a number of complex service challenges, including staffing vacancies and unplanned staff absence.

“This impacted on our ability to provide some procedures locally within the waiting time target.

“To address this and to reduce waiting times for patients, NHS Tayside referred some patients to an appropriate independent provider for their procedure.

“Reduction in waiting times for urology services has been a specific focus for NHS Tayside over the past months resulting in an improved position, and medical staff joining the urology team in recent months will further support a reduction in urology waiting times.

“The opening of the Tayside Urology Treatment Centre at Perth Royal Infirmary has delivered enhanced patient pathways and experience for urology outpatients.

“Since opening, the average waiting time for routine urology outpatients has reduced from 22 weeks to 15 weeks.

“A similar focus has led to reduced waiting times for urology inpatient/day case procedures, with a reduction in average waiting times from 29 weeks to 19 weeks.”

A number of other inpatients have also been waiting in excess of a year for an appointment at NHS Tayside, including 64 weeks for vascular surgery, 57.1 weeks for gynaecology and 54 weeks for urology vasectomy.

And currently 32 out of the 44 outpatient departments measured against this target were breaching the 12 week waiting time target.

Some of the longest outpatient waits outwith urology include 54.9 weeks for cardiovascular risk, 46 weeks for gynaecology, 44 weeks for general surgery and 42.7 weeks for gastroenterology.

These waiting times show the ‘90th percentile wait’, which NHS Tayside said means 90 per cent of patients waited up to or less than the figure given, and these figures should be used by patients to find out the maximum wait they can expect.