Thousands queue for NHS care as 'hidden' waiting list grows

Published on Wednesday 19 September 2007 11:55

Out of sight

THE number of Lothian patients on "hidden" hospital waiting lists is growing, despite a huge fall across the rest of the country.

More than 5000 patients waiting for a bed have been switched from main waiting lists to the "availability status code" (ASC) list, which loses them the guarantee of being treated within 18 weeks.

The increase - a rise of 462 between March and June - is in stark contrast to other health boards. In Greater Glasgow, the number of patients with an ASC code fell by more than 3500.

Patients on the ASC list are "hidden" from the Scottish Government's official waiting time list, often because they turned down operation dates.

The controversial system is due to be scrapped by the end of the year, and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon was today expected to reiterate this target in the Scottish Parliament.

Health chiefs in the Lothians insisted they would still achieve this goal, despite the increasing numbers in recent months.

Their efforts have been hampered by a lack of theatre capacity in some specialities, such as cardiac and orthopaedic surgery, as well as problems gaining access to facilities at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank.

The former private hospital is used by all NHS boards in Scotland to bring down waiting times.

NHS Lothian asked for more sessions for plastic surgery operations, such as breast reductions, than it received, forcing the health board to seek private sector facilities.

Jackie Sansbury, director of planning and modernisation with NHS Lothian, said: "We do have challenging targets to meet but we have plans in place to meet these. We continue to increase the number of operations carried out in our own hospitals and the independent sector, and will continue to work in partnership with hospitals such as the Golden Jubilee and [the private BUPA hospital at] Murrayfield and fully expect to meet our targets by the end of December 2007."

In an effort to phase out the ASC system, health chiefs are reassessing hundreds of patients.

If treatment is no longer necessary, they are removed from the waiting list altogether, or alternatively given a fresh 18-week guarantee.

But Ms Sturgeon said today: "We have consistently criticised the use of availability status codes because they are unfair to many patients.

"That is why we are determined that they will be abolished by the end of this year and replaced by a system that is transparent and fairer to patients.

"All NHS boards are working to ensure that availability status codes are eliminated by the end of this year, and have robust plans in place to ensure this is delivered."

But Tory health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon said larger health boards - such as the Lothians - would "have great difficulty in achieving these targets". She said "spare resources" in the private sector could be better utilised.

"There should not be these hidden waiting lists - there has to be much more openness and transparency," she said.

The number of Lothian patients with an ASC code peaked in June last year at 7124. Numbers dropped to 4824 in March, before rising to 4924 at the end of May and 5286 in June.

Across Scotland, there was an overall fall of 4343 between March and June, with only the Lothian, Shetland and Borders health boards seeing a rise.