Chronic pain waiting times forcing people to travel to England
More than half of patients suffering from chronic pain have been waiting longer than the target time for an appointment, new figures show.
Opposition MSPs branded the situation "completely unacceptable" after official statistics showed 2,402 peo - p le -56.6 percent of those waiting for an appointment - have been on the list for more than 18 weeks.
Long waits in Scotland have forced patients to travel to England for treatment, the Conservative sand Labour said.
Figures showed by the end of September this year there were 4,245 patients waiting to be seen at a chronic pain clinic.
This does not include data from NHS Fife, as the coronavirus pandemic meant it was unable to provide information to Public Health Scotland.
The proportion of people waiting more than 18 weeks for an appointment has increased from just over a fifth (20.8 per cent) at the end of September 2019 to 52.9 per cent by the end of June 2020.
In the period July to September 1, some 1,283 patients were seen at a chronic pain clinic - a drop of 49.1 per cent from the 2,523 who were seen in the same three months in 2019, with the fall" reflecting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic ", Public Health Scotland said.
Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said "thousands of patients are lying in agony and have no idea when they will get vital treatment and operations".
He added :" We have seen patients having to travel to England to deal with chronic pain and that is completely unacceptable.
"As we continue to get our health services up and running, the SNP need to make chronic pain a top priority and guarantee that patients will be seen as quickly as possible."
The Conservative MSP said Health Secretary Jeane Freeman must put forward a plan to tackle rising waiting times as a "matter of urgency".
Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said: "Under the SNP, chronic pain patients in Scotland endured a waiting times crisis before coronavirus, and lockdown has exacerbated this.
"Too few patients are being treated and it is completely unacceptable that over half of all chronic pain patients are waiting over four months for a first appointment .”