NHS misses guarantee for quarter of patients
● Robison says bad weather was factor ● Opponents blame her stewardship
A legal guarantee for Scottish patients to be treated within 12 weeks was missed more than 16,000 time in the first three months of the year.
Official figures show a quarter of patients were not treated within the 12-week timescale. It is the worst level since the legally binding guarantee was introduced in 2012.
Overall 75.9 per cent of people were seen within the treatment time guarantee, down from 80.4 per cent the previous quarter.
The number of Scots waiting more than three months to be treated on the NHS has soared to its worst level since the legally binding guarantee was introduced.
A quarter of eligible NHS patients, more than 16,000, are not being treated within a 12-week timescale, official figures showed yesterday.
Healthsecretaryshonarobison said bad weather during the period played a role in the deteriorating performance.
Overall 75.9 per cent of people were seen within the treatment time guarantee, down from 80.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The latest figure was the lowest since TTG was introduced in October 2012.
Ms Robison said: “This period covered a challenging winter for the NHS and severe weather in early March which caused disruption that took hospitals time to recover from.
“So it is testament to the hard work and dedication of staff that the average wait for patients receiving treatment within the treatment time guarantee was eight weeks, and that 1.6 million patients have received their treatment within the guarantee since it was introduced.
NHS Forth Valley had the poorest performance at 56 per cent, followed by NHS Lanarkshire at 63 per cent and NHS Grampian on 64 per cent.
But Ms Robison came under fire from Labour for suggesting the weather was a factor in the delays.
“Shona Robison is getting increasingly desperate in her attempts to explain NHS performance on her watch,” said Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar.
“No-one will buy Shona Robision’s attempts to hide behind a week of extreme weather to explain poor performance for three months. The real reason for these figures is Shona Robison’s complete and utter failure to manage the health service properly.”
Since its introduction, the treatment guarantee has been breached 134,804 times.
Separate waiting times figures show that 81 per cent of patients were seen within the 18-week referral to treatment standard during March.
And 80.6 per cent of patients waiting for a key diagnostic test at 31 March had been waiting less than six weeks, compared 87 per cent a year ago.
Gregor Mcnie, Cancer Research UK’S head of external affairs, said: “It’s concerning that so many people are waiting too long for tests that might tell someone if they have cancer.
“Part of the reason why hospitals are struggling to meet the target is because their diagnostic services are shortstaffed. The Scottish Government must address this.”