Health board that fiddled patient figures is worst for waiting times

A HEALTH board that manipulated waiting times is the only one in Scotland that failed to meet a key target for treating patients, figures have shown.

Across Scotland, 91.5 per cent of patients whose waiting time from referral to starting treatment could be measured got medical help within 18 weeks.

The Scottish Government has previously set the goal of having at least 90 per cent of patients beginning treatment within this time, with the target coming into effect at the end of last year.

Official figures from March showed that, across the country, 101,846 patients began their treatment within 18 weeks of being referred, while 9,419 people had to wait longer.

But in NHS Lothian, only 85.3 per cent of such patients began their treatment within 18 weeks, meaning 2,324 people in the area had to wait longer than the target time.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said NHS Lothian was now “working hard” to reduce the number of patients being forced to wait too long.

It emerged last October that patients in the area who declined to travel to England for treatment were removed from the 18-week list.

Some patients had been referred to Northumberland for treatment. When they refused to go, they were marked as “unavailable for social reasons” and not included among patients on a list which had the target time of 18 weeks for treatment.

Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said the figures showed that “clearly NHS Lothian has been ill-equipped to deal with the number of patients it receives for many years”.

He said the board had “fraudulently attempted to present disastrous waiting times facts in a better light” which was “entirely at the expense of patients”.

And he said: “Had the health board’s struggle to deal with waiting lists been made clear years ago, some action could have been taken.

“Instead, we still have patients waiting an unacceptably long time for care and a health board which stands no realistic chance of hitting the targets set.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the “huge spike in waiting list times” gave cause for concern.

She said: “We are beginning to see the real picture since management at NHS Lothian were caught fiddling their figures. People across Scotland will wonder whether these practices are endemic in other health boards.”

But Ms Sturgeon said she was “proud” that the waiting-time target was being met across the country as a whole.

She said: “Quick access to treatment, delivered as locally as possible, is what patients want.

“I am proud to say that NHS Scotland is delivering on the target to ensure that patients are treated in 18 weeks or less.”

She added: “NHS Lothian are working hard to reduce the numbers of patients breaching the waiting times targets following changes to their recording practices last December.”

And she stressed: “It is important to remember just how much progress has been made.

“In 2007, over 29,000 people were stuck on ‘hidden waiting lists’ not getting the treatment they needed and the maximum wait to get an appointment was six months.”