Bosses told to address waiting time delays

The health secretary has told NHS bosses she wants “significant progress” on tackling waiting time delays in the next 12 months.

Jeane Freeman said ending long waits for treatment was one of her “key priorities” after taking on the job.

Nicola Sturgeon promoted the former social security minister to the crucial post in a Cabinet reshuffle at the end of June when previous health secretary Shona Robison left the government.

Ms Robison was repeatedly criticised for the NHS’s performance on waiting times, with cancer waiting times slipping to the worst performance on record earlier this year.

Official figures showed only 85% of patients urgently referred with a suspicion of cancer started treatment within the 62-day target time between January and March this year – falling short of the 95% target.

Meanwhile, the legal guarantee for patients to be treated within 12 weeks was missed for more than 16,000 patients in the first three months of this year.

Overall, 75.9% of people were seen within the treatment time guarantee, down from 80.4% in the previous quarter.

Ms Freeman said since taking on the job of health secretary she had been “very clear that one of my key priorities for NHS Scotland is the improvement of waiting times”.

“I fully expect all boards to make significant progress in eradicating long waits in the coming year,” she said.

Health Minister Jeane Freeman.