Health boards to be given £50m extra funding help

● Government pours cash into NHS in bid to cut waiting times

The Scottish Government has pledged a package of measures including £50 million extra funding in an effort to reduce waiting times.

With health boards failing to meet a number of key waiting times targets – including cancer waiting times and the 12 weeks legal guarantee for day or inpatient treatment – Health Secretary Shona Robison said the additional cash would allow regional NHS boards to “best target funding where it is most needed”.

Health boards will receive an initial share of £25m, to be focused on a number of specialities including neurology, orthopaedics and diagnostics, in an attempt to speed up treatment for patients.

A further £25m will be made available later this year to build upon work being done with the Scottish Access Collaborative, which was set up to try to reduce waiting times for elective treatments.

In addition, two new independent diagnostic leads will be appointed to scrutinise the way in which the NHS operates and to ensure tests for illnesses such as cancer are carried out in a co-ordinated way across the country.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard blasted the SNP’S management of the NHS, telling MSPS that in 2017 more than 54,000 people waited

0 In 2017, 54,000 people waited longer than 12 weeks for treatment longer than the health service’s 12-week treatment-time guarantee.

Announcing the funding yesterday, Ms Robison said: “Our NHS staff do a wonderful job every day. However, a challenging winter has impacted on our systems right across the health and social care system.

“This funding will help ensure prompt treatment for many and allow boards to best target funding where it is most needed.

“We’re making great progress in improving the way serious illness, including cancer, is detected and treated but we know we need to do more to ensure people get access to the right care at the right time.”

She added: “The new diagnostic posts are a vitally important step in making sure that, across Scotland, our health service can deliver high-quality and swift treatment to those who need it, and to make sure there is a consistency in approach.”

In 2012, the Scottish Government introduced the Treatment Time Guarantee which gave patients a legal right to treatment within 12 weeks for conditions such as knee and eye operations.

However, figures released by Scottish Labour show that 118,004 people have waited more than 12 weeks for inpatient or day case admission since the Patient Rights Act (Scotland) 2011 came into force.

Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “Labour will always welcome further support for our NHS, but this announcement, the day before a host of waiting times data is set to be released, looks like an exercise in PR management rather than putting patients first.” High-speed rail connecting all of the UK mainland by 2050 would put “rocket fuel in Britain’s economy”, a leading transport thinktank has proposed.

The move would shrink a long-standing productivity gap with European countries, Greengauge 21 said. It would also reduce an over-reliance on London by lowering journey times and allowing other cities to flourish, it added.

A new connection in the West Midlands would see HS2 trains speed to cities such as Edinburgh, Bristol, Cardiff and Newcastle, the group suggested. HS2 is a planned high-speed rail network, with trains holding more than 1,000 commuters travelling up to 250 mph, from London to Birmingham and to Manchester and Leeds.

Greengauge 21 director Jim Steer said: “Britain lacks a long-term national railway strategy beyond HS2. We need a plan to put rocket fuel into our economic productivity and today’s report sets out proposals to do so.”

The report, titled Beyond HS2, said boosting productivity should be the guiding priority for redesigning the rail network. Proposals include an upgrade to the East Coast mainline and new high speed lines in Scotland, achieving a three-hour 15-minute journey time between Edinburgh and London.