Cancer target missed

Forth Valley Health Board failed to meet its 62-day waiting time target for cancer treatment last year.

Statistics released by Audit Scotland for the 12 months up to March show the health board achieved a figure of 89.3 per cent for urgent referral to hospital with suspicion of the disease within 62 days.

Guidelines set by the Scottish Government require a target of 95 per cent.

It emerged in September that Forth Valley had the worst cancer treatment waiting time record in Scotland during the second quarter of 2017 on the 62-day criteria.

However, the 2016/17 Audit Scotland statistics show that a 31-day target following cancer diagnosis was met at 96.6 per cent.

A health board spokeswoman said this week: “The vast majority of patients with cancer in Forth Valley are seen and treated very quickly and we consistently meet the 31-day target for cancer treatment.

“Our performance in relation to the 62-day target for cancer treatment has also improved significantly over the last few months.

“Most patients who require an operation are seen within 18 weeks and our performance for this target is above the national average.

“While we have experienced challenges in meeting the A&E target, we are continuing to do everything possible to reduce delays.

“All patients who attend our emergency department are seen and assessed to ensure patients with more urgent or serious health issues are treated quickly.

“In many other cases patients will undergo tests and start treatment while they wait to be admitted or discharged.”

Audit Scotland also revealed Forth Valley was one of five health boards across Scotland which did not meet its £26.6 million savings target for 2016/2017.

The health board made more savings than in previous years at £23.8m out of an income of £532.5m.

The board spokeswoman said: “We made significant savings in 2016/17, which ensured we were able to deliver a balanced budget at the end of March 2017.”

Other figures contained in the Audit Scotland report show unmet targets which included referrral to outpatient appointments within 12 weeks (81.6 per cent) and an inpatient/ day case treatment wait within 12 weeks (63.5 per cent ).

Targets met included seeing child and adolescent metal health patients within 18 weeks (99.7 per cent), drug and alcohol treatment within three weeks (98.7 per cent), and A&E patients within four hours (97.2 per cent).