Scottish patient had to travel 320 miles for NHS treatment, figures show

The Scottish Tories have described the case as “jaw-dropping”

A total of 77,150 patients had to go outside of their own health board area for treatment in the last five years

A patient in the Western Isles was forced to travel more than 300 miles as part of their NHS treatment, new data released by the Scottish Conservatives shows.

Figures obtained by the party show that between 2018-19 and 2022-23, a total of 77,150 patients had to go outside of their own health board area for treatment.

The party obtained details of patients being sent out of area from some of Scotland’s most rural health boards, with NHS Ayrshire and Arran, NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, NHS Tayside and NHS Western Isles all responding to the freedom of information request.

NHS Grampian saw the most transfers to other health boards, with 21,092 patients sent to different areas to receive care over the five-year period.

Meanwhile the response from NHS Western Isles revealed the furthest distance a patient had travelled was 319 miles.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the “jaw-dropping figures” show how the Government is “failing rural Scotland at every turn”.

He added: “It is scarcely believable that one patient had to travel over 300 miles just to be treated. The buck stops with the SNP.

“Patients who are already stressed enough about undergoing treatment should not suffer the further anxiety of having to travel away from their local area to be treated elsewhere.”

He said the situation had arisen because “dire workforce planning” by successive SNP health secretaries “has left our rural health boards dangerously short of staff”.

Dr Gulhane said patients are having to “suffer badly as a result”, as he added: “With almost 80,000 patients affected in the last five years, it is clear that patients in rural and remote areas are a complete afterthought for the SNP-Green Government.”

He called on Health Secretary Michael Matheson to deal with the issue, although Dr Gulhane said the minister had been “left an almighty mess by Humza Yousaf in trying to fix Scotland’s NHS”.

Dr Gulhane said Mr Matheson should “start by ripping up his predecessor’s failed NHS recovery plan and urgently outline fresh ideas to support burnt-out staff and let-down patients”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Patients are offered appointments as local to them as possible, but to reduce their waiting time some patients may be offered alternatives out with their local health board.

“It is also not always possible for Health Boards to provide access locally for all patients and all services where they are restricted by geography or the when the patient needs a specialist service.”

Meanwhile, separate figures obtained by Scottish Labour, show dentistry calls to NHS 24 have more than doubled in five years.

In 2022/23, oral and dental health calls to the 24-hour healthcare service reached 67,189, according to freedom of information figures.

An increase of 41,680 more calls were received in this timeframe compared to 2018/19, where NHS 24 had 25,509 dental health queries.

Scottish Labour have warned the figures show a “two-tier” dental service is emerging in Scotland as thousands turn to the NHS service after struggling to get a dentist appointment.

It comes after the British Dental Association warned in June that dentistry in Scotland faced an “existential threat” after analysis showed more than half of NHS capacity had been lost compared to pre-pandemic levels.