First minister says NHS waiting time figures not good enough

NHS waiting time figures are “not good enough”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

She faced criticism at First Minister’s Questions on waiting time targets being missed for increasing numbers of patients recently.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said figures released on Tuesday showed more than 16,000 patients are waiting longer than the legal 12-week treatment time guarantee.

“The waiting time guarantee means nothing,” he said. “It’s the law, guaranteed. When is the First Minister going to obey her own law?”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard criticised the rise in patients waiting longer than the six-week target time for key diagnostic tests for conditions such as cancer.

He said: “One-in-13 patients waited too long when Nicola Sturgeon became first minister. Today it is one in five. That’s a 171% increase...”

Responding to Mr Rennie, the first minister said: “The figures published this week are not good enough, as far as I am concerned.”

She said outpatient waiting times had improved and £50 million extra investment will help drive improvements in inpatient waits.

She told Mr Leonard an additional £5m was being invested to support access to diagnostic tests for suspected cancer patients.