Waiting Times Missed

Health boards are still struggling to meet strict waiting time targets, according to the latest figures.

They show nine areas met a 90% target to treat patients within 18 weeks in December.

A total of five health boards failed, including NHS Fife with just over 86% of people were treated on time.

Health Secretary Shona Robison has announced a £10 million fund to help health boards deal with waiting times.

"Health boards across Scotland continue to deliver some of the lowest waiting times on record. This performance was maintained as we headed into the challenging winter period last year, but we know we must do more to meet some of the rightly demanding targets we have set. Patients would expect nothing less.

"Today's figures showing that 97.1% of inpatients and day-case patients were seen within 12 weeks, compared to the 85% who were seen within 18 weeks during January to March 2007. This included Scotland’s largest health board, NHS Glasgow, which saw 99.9% of patients within the 12 week treatment time guarantee.

"However, much more needs to be done and we are committed to getting the right structures in place to ensure everyone is seen within the target time. I have made this clear to all boards and we will continue to work closely with them to help them deliver this.

"As part of this commitment we have announced the allocation of £10 million from our £31.5 million Performance Fund over the next year to help support specific boards with the delivery of waiting times.

"This is the first allocation of funding for frontline services, with support for more boards to follow. This investment will aim to help alleviate these pressures and ensure our NHS can continue to deliver effective and sustainable care to all patients across Scotland.

"This first tranche of funding will expand capacity within NHS Lothian, NHS Highland and the Golden Jubilee and support them to deliver the 12 week treatment time guarantee, ensuring that more patients continue to be treated quicker than ever before. In Highland this will allow for more elective procedures to take place over the weekend. As part of performance funding we will look to embed seven day practice like this across our NHS.

"In addition to this, individual boards are also prioritising the delivery of waiting time targets by utilising funding from the budget uplift, for example, NHS Grampian is investing £5 million of its uplift share to support the delivery of the 12 week treatment time guarantee in 2015/16.

"We are clear that all patients in Scotland should be treated as quickly and as effectively as possible and are committed to helping health boards achieve this."