Scotland NHS winter crisis: Government urged to introduce 'Super Saturdays' and punish health boards who fail on waiting times

The Scottish Government should set maximum waiting times for treatment in the NHS and punish health boards which make patients wait longer, the Scottish Tories have argued.

The party has released its own plan for helping the NHS deal with pressures this winter, as the health service stands on the brink of crisis.

A&E waiting times have repeatedly hit record levels in recent months, while three quarters of a million people waiting on an outpatient procedure.

The document sets out 14 recommendations ranging from the creation of an app to show live hospital waiting times to launching so-called “super Saturdays” where hospitals focus on a single type of procedure or operation in an attempt to relieve backlogs.

The Scottish Tories have set out their recovery plan to help combat spiralling A&E waiting times. Picture: John Devlin

But the major recommendation would see a maximum wait time for procedures put on health boards during the winter, which would be “backed by clear sanctions” on boards if they are breached. Sanctions could include Government interventions coming more quickly through the escalation framework.

Multiple breaches would also trigger a ministerial statement to Parliament “to make the health secretary personally responsible for tackling the worst waits in our NHS”, the plan said.

“We need to see the introduction of new crisis maximum waiting times to tackle the most appalling waits,” the document said. “These would set a floor during a particularly difficult winter period for the maximum times that patients should expect to wait for treatment.

“This would improve transparency, as it is currently the case that many of the worst waits are only available through Freedom of Information requests.

“These new maximum standards would be backed up by clear sanctions for health boards that breach them, giving our NHS a clear motivation to tackle the longest of waits.

“A ministerial statement would also be required in the event of repeated breaches in a board, to make the health secretary personally responsible for tackling the worst waits in our NHS.”

NHS Forth Valley has been one of the country’s worst performing health boards. It was brought under Government control last month following concerns the health board’s leadership had failed to improve performance in several key areas.

Under Tory proposals, an NHS Care app would allow patients to see live hospital waiting times and help the NHS manage demand. A winter network of mobile testing and drive-through facilities to handle CT scans, blood tests and electrocardiograms (ECGs), and a full electronic repeat prescription system to copy current prescriptions and avoid the need for a fresh signature are among other proposals.

Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the NHS needed a “real recovery plan” as it faced “its worst-ever winter”.

“The paper we’ve published today contains a range of innovative yet practical measures that would alleviate some of the huge pressures on our health service right away,” he said.

“Despite the best efforts of dedicated frontline staff, things have only got worse since Humza Yousaf produced his flimsy recovery plan for the NHS last year.

“A&E waiting times are the worst on record, as are the levels of delayed discharge, and one in seven Scots is now on a waiting list on the watch of a failed health secretary, who deserves to be sacked.” A spokesperson for Mr Yousaf: “We have been preparing NHS Scotland for winter for months. For the Tories to publish a so-called winter plan in the middle of December shows just how out of touch they are.

“And to produce a plan that takes no account of staffing and includes ideas which would take months to set up, again shows how disconnected from reality the Conservatives are.

“Above all else, the Tories have zero credibility when we have engaged constructively with health unions to aim to resolve pay issues in Scotland, while the UK Government is refusing to engage meaningfully with unions on pay meaning NHS England faces major disruption this winter.”