NHS RED ALERT
Scotland’s largest board flag up critical failings in vital areas.. including early cancer detection
SCOTLAND’S biggest health board have reported dangerously high levels of failure in a dozen key areas including early cancer detection.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have a traffic light warning system to tell them when services are in trouble. And bosses recently held private talks on a report that flagged 12 separate standards as red.
That means there has been a marked dropoff in performance.
Two of the danger areas directly involved cancer – early detection and treatment, and hitting targets for seeing suspected sufferers.
The report also warned that the six-week waiting target for key diagnostic tests, the 12-week target for outpatient appointments and the 12-week treatment time guarantee were all being missed too often. A&E waiting times were a cause for concern too.
Bosses were warned of problems with delayed discharges – commonly known as bed-blocking – where patients are stuck taking up hospital beds because the system has nowhere else for them to go.
And the report highlighted concerns about levels of bacterial infection, care of stroke patients, stop-smoking services, staff sickness absence and complaints.
The worrying report follows former SNP health secretary Alex Neil’s decision to break ranks with his party and demand a new tax to save the health service.
It will pile further pressure on the Scottish Government. Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said it was evidence of a health board in crisis.
The detailed findings on the red-flagged areas make for worrying reading.
Only 84.8 per cent of patients urgently referred over fears they had cancer got their first treatment within 62 days. That’s far below the expected 95 per cent.
Fewer than half – 48.7per cent – of all patients with suspected urinary cancer were seen in time. And the report also revealed that the board are struggling to cope with breast cancer referrals.
Between December and February, 19 breast screening patients had to be sent to Lanarkshire because of pressure on surgical services.
The sharp rise in the number of patients waiting more than six weeks for key diagnostic tests is another code red.
In July last year, not a single patient had to wait longer than six weeks. In December, there were 1982.
The figures on the 12-week treatment time guarantee are even worse. Just
227 people had to wait more than 12 weeks for treatment in 2015-16 but the 2016-17 figure was a shocking 7514. That’s an increase of 3210per cent.
There has also been a steep decline in performance on outpatient appointments since June 2015, when every one was within the 12-week target.
By December this year, 11,517 patients were having to wait too long.
Lack of staff is part of the problem. And the report showed that sickness levels among board employees were running at 5.88per cent – far higher than the Government’s four per cent target.
The report also gave amber warnings – meaning standards had fallen since the same period last year – about waiting times for both antenatal care and mental health services for kids and adolescents.
Sarwar said: “This clearly looks like a crisis, with more and more standards going into the red, more and more cuts needed and demanded by the Scottish Government and added pressure on our overworked, undervalued and under-resourced NHS staff.
“It is time the SNP recognised that their decade of mismanagement of our NHS is directly impacting on patient care, patient safety and the morale of staff. It’s simply not good enough.”
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said the report highlighted improvements as well as problems, but action was being taken.
A spokesman said work on early cancer detection was ongoing, and a national programme had led to an overall increase in the number of cancers being diagnosed at Stage One.
But he admitted there were problems in other areas. He said a review of “underlying factors regarding performance” would look at the nature of demand for services and whether resources were being effectively used.
The Scottish Government said they expected all health boards to conform with “national policies, priorities and guidelines” and made sure they were both supported and held to account.