The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Frustration at long wait for surgery
Local patients are waiting two years or more for orthopaedic surgery in Fife – with referrals from NHS Lothian blamed for delays. It had been hoped the National Treatment Centre (NTC) in Kirkcaldy would cut long waiting lists, but NHS Fife papers suggest it may be making things worse.
Opening the £33 million facility in March 2023, then first minister Nicola Sturgeon said it would give people across Scotland “faster access to life-changing” surgery.
But a year later, data released by NHS Fife in its March board report shows patients are still experiencing significant delays.
The report says 32 patients in Fife have been waiting more than 104 weeks, despite Scots having a legal right to treatment within three months. Just 37.5% of patients received treatment within this time frame, with 300 orthopaedic surgery patients waiting more than 52 weeks.
The report says: “The increase in patients waiting over 104 weeks in orthopaedics is due to referrals received from another health board for treatment in the NTC.”
The Courier can reveal the majority of these referrals have come from NHS Lothian.
Graeme Downie, Scottish
Labour candidate for Dunfermline and Dollar, said: “National Treatment Centres are supposed to help address national waiting times in key areas but not only are NHS times rising across the country, it seems the orthopaedic centre in Fife has actually increased waiting times for people in the kingdom.”
Claire Dobson, NHS Fife’s director of acute services, said the vast majority of patients at the centre are resident in Fife.
“Whilst we have treated a number of patients from the NHS Lothian board area, there has been no reduction in theatre capacity for Fife patients since the NTC opened in March 2023,” she said.
“The most recently published figures from Public Health Scotland show that around 2,700 patients in Fife are awaiting orthopaedic procedures, with less than 20 having waited in excess of 104 weeks.”
The Scottish Government said it is committed to eradicating long waits.
“Allocation to NTC Fife is undertaken by the Scottish Government and is done on a long waits basis to ensure equity across Scotland,” a Scottish Government spokesperson said.