Exposed: SNP’s waiting times pledge isn’t worth the paper it’s written on
‘Disastrous health record’
A LEGAL guarantee to treat patients within 12 weeks is ‘not worth the paper it was written on’, Nicola Sturgeon was told last night.
The First Minister faced a backlash after it emerged that around a quarter of a million Scots have been failed by the SNP pledge.
But despite being enshrined in legislation, those forced to wait longer than the 12 weeks outlined in the Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG) have no legal recourse.
Officials confirmed the only route available to angry patients is to make a complaint to their health board – no court action or compensation can be sought.
NHS figures published yesterday show that since the introduction of the TTG in October 2012 a total of 252,613 patients have had to wait longer than the target time.
It comes after Miss Sturgeon stumbled over waiting time figures in a BBC interview with Andrew Neil on Monday. She claimed 80 per cent of patients were treated within the target before he corrected her, saying the figure was closer to 72 per cent.
Data published yesterday shows that in the three months to the end of September, the TTG was only achieved for around seven out of ten patients, 71.3 per cent.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘Sturgeon’s complacency on her disastrous health record is deeply insulting to the thousands of patients who have been left waiting.
‘The treatment time guarantee was introduced by the SNP Government but clearly isn’t worth the paper it was written on. Nicola Sturgeon has spent 12 years fomenting her Nationalist cause and ignoring our NHS.’
Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, had the largest number of patients who waited more than 12 weeks – 48,221, compared to 43,350 in NHS Lothian and 35,518 in the NHS Grampian region.
Across the NHS, performance was down from 72.6 per cent in the previous quarter and 73.9 per cent in the same period in 2018.
Six NHS boards recorded a performance below the Scottish average of 71.3 per cent, with the TTG met for only 57.4 per cent of those requiring inpatient or day case treatment in the NHS Highland area.
Meanwhile, at the end of September, there were 85,997 patients who had waited more than 12 weeks for an outpatient appointto ment, including 56,651 who had waited more than 16 weeks.
Scottish Lib Dem health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘This is the latest stain on the SNP’s record. It shows once again that they simply can’t be trusted alleviate the pressure on Scotland’s NHS.’
Figures published yesterday also indicate that the first two interim targets since Health Secretary Jeane Freeman introduced the Waiting Times Improvement Plan have been missed.
By October 2019, 80 per cent of outpatients were meant to be seen within 12 weeks but this stood at only 72.9 per cent at the end of September. Separate data shows NHS Scotland’s performance against the 18-week referral to treatment target fell again.
The target states 90 per cent of patients should have had their treatment commence within 18 weeks of being referred. In September, this was only achieved for 76.9 per cent of patients, with performance declining from 77.9 per cent in August.
Only four out of the 15 NHS boards met the 90 per cent target in September.
Miss Freeman said: ‘Over and above our £102million investment for waiting times, we will also invest a further £6.4million this year to deliver improvements for patients across Scotland.
‘This is part of the £850million Waiting Times Improvement Plan I launched last year, and will ensure no one is waiting too long for treatment.’