100,000 await health tests

MORE than 100,000 Scots were waiting for vital diagnostic tests at the end of 2020, up by 15 per cent in a year.

Data on the waiting times, including those for cancer, was released yesterday by Public Health Scotland.

It showed 100,913 were waiting to be seen on December 31, 2020. That is a decrease of 1.8 per cent compared with September 30, 2020, but a rise of 15.3 per cent on 2019.

Of those, 44.1 per cent had been waiting more than six weeks for their test, compared with 20.5 per cent on December 31, 2019.

Last night critics warned that cancer patients must not be forgotten.

The Scottish Government standard that no one should wait more than six weeks for a diagnostic test has not been met since June 2010.

Kirsty Slack, Cancer Research UK’s public affairs manager in Scotland, said the pandemic had led to a ‘worrying drop’ in those being diagnosed and starting treatment.

She said: ‘While services are slowly recovering, we remain deeply concerned about the ongoing backlog of people waiting to receive these crucial tests.’

She welcomed a Scottish Government plan for recovery of cancer services but said long-standing staff shortages must be addressed as a priority.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘While we all understand the nHS’s focus has been on tackling Covid, the SnP Government cannot let these patients be forgotten. Even prior to the pandemic, the SnP’s record on hitting health targets was dismal.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Cancer services have been, and will remain, a top priority. nHS Scotland remains on an emergency footing where health boards are seeing and treating patients based on their clinical urgency.

‘Throughout this period, health boards have been working hard to ensure that vital care remains in place where clinically agreed... and each board has also provided detailed plans for the recovery, remobilisation and redesign of key services through to March 2021.’