MSPs Scrutinise NHS Waiting Times

Public Audit Committee expresses concern over NHS waiting list times.

Holyrood's Public Audit Committee has expressed concern that some eligible patients in Scotland are not being treated in accordance with the NHS’s Treatment Time Guarantee (TTG), according to a parliamentary report published today. The Treatment Time Guarantee is a legal right to treatment within 12 weeks of treatment being agreed.

The report follows detailed scrutiny of the Auditor General for Scotland's investigation into NHS financial performance and waiting lists. The Committee looked at the NHS’s performance in relation to the Patients' Rights (Scotland) Act which legally guarantees the timescales within which patients can expect to receive medical treatment in hospital.

Public Audit Committee Convener Hugh Henry said:

"Our committee has genuine concern that many patients in Scotland are not receiving the treatment they are fully entitled to receive within 12 weeks of their treatment being agreed.

"We note the Scottish Government's explanation that although patients have a legal right to treatment, for various reasons, 100% compliance will be difficult to achieve. The Committee also notes that there have been improvements in waiting lists over the years.

"During the six months from 1st October 2012 to 31st March 2013 alone, there were 1,217 recorded breaches of the treatment time guarantee - that's NHS patients not receiving the service to which they are legally entitled. We have therefore called for the Scottish Government to explain how it will monitor and support the NHS to reduce these breaches."

The Committee also registered its concern that due to delays in updating IT systems and implementing new guidance, national reporting on NHS waiting times associated with TTG has been insufficient to allow full scrutiny of health boards' performance since October 2012.

The Committee acknowledges the Scottish Government's confirmation that ISD (the NHS's statistical body) will be able to provide this data from June 2014 (to be published from August 2014).

The Committee would therefore welcome confirmation from the Scottish Government on:

• how it will use this information to assess and monitor boards’ performance on waiting times;
• what support it will provide to any NHS board where performance issues are identified;
• whether this information will also be retrospectively published to October 2012 to allow for trend analysis.
• The Committee also seeks further information as to how the Scottish Government and NHS Boards will use the benchmarking tool to monitor and improve NHS Boards performance on waiting times.