It's Time to End Waiting Times Manipulation

SNP Depute Leader Nicola Sturgeon MSP today (Tuesday) said that it's time for a government that Scottish patients can trust and for an end to the practice of hidden waiting lists. Ms Sturgeon made the call following the publication by the Labour and Lib Dem government of the latest quarterly waiting lists figures.

The figures as of December 06 showed:

Inpatients:

• There are 34,175 patients with ASCs, 774 more than the previous quarter
• ASCs now make-up 37 per cent of the Inpatient Waiting List
• Inpatient median wait up 18 days since 1999, from 30 to 48 days
• The number of patients seen within 18 weeks has dropped by 5.2 per cent to 81.4 per cent as of December 2006 compared to March 2000 when the figure was 86.6 per cent

Outpatients:

• There are 25,173 with ASCs, 3,075 more than the previous quarter
• Median wait is up from 46 days to 49

Ms Sturgeon said:

"There is a huge gulf between patients' real life experiences and the statistics highlighted by the government.

"On the very day that a doctor has expressed concerns about the manipulation of waiting times figures at the Southern General hospital, the Health Minister tells us everything in the garden is rosy.

"But behind the spin there is an increasing reliance on hidden waiting lists.

"Patients who are waiting too long are being diverted onto hidden waiting lists so that the Health Minister can pat himself on the back and claim that no-one is waiting longer than six months. It is simply not acceptable.

"The SNP is committed to giving each and every patient an individual waiting time guarantee which will be legally enforceable. We will give patients real rights, not the spin they have come to expect from Labour."

ENDS

Notes:

1. As reported in The Herald today (Tuesday):

Following a FOI request, Dr Jim Finlayson, who works on the Mull of Kintyre, discovered that between July 1, 2006, and January 1, 2007, there were 87 knee replacements at the Southern General in Glasgow and 46 patients were given a code four. In contrast, at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, where there were 239 knee replacements, no patient was given a code four.

The situation with hip replacements was similar. At the Southern General there were 99 planned operations and 37 code fours applied. At Glasgow Royal Infirmary there were 139 hip replacements and no code fours.

Dr Finlayson said: "I am particularly shocked because it looks to me as though there is a definite attempt to fiddle the figures and make it look good on paper and it is harming the patients.

"I think first of all Andy Kerr should stop saying everything is wonderful when it isn't."

2. An ASC code four is given to patients whose treatment is considered "highly specialised" at the time they are placed on the waiting list. It means they are exempt from the waiting times guarantees and excluded from the headline waiting list results.