NHS Scotland exceeds waiting times targets
Aug 31, 2010
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Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon praised NHS Scotland for its “best ever performance”, as new snapshot figures have revealed the health service continues to exceed waiting times targets.
According to numbers for 30 June published by ISD Scotland, 99.8 per cent of patients in Scotland were waiting less than nine weeks for inpatient and day case treatment. The national waiting times standard for inpatient and day case treatment is set at 12 weeks.
No patient waited more than six weeks for the eight key diagnostic tests while 99.8 per cent of patients received one of the eight key diagnostic tests within four weeks.
Accident & Emergency and outpatient targets were also on track. The vast majority – 97.5 per cent – of patients attending A&E were seen within the four hour target time. In addition, 99.9 per cent of all outpatients waiting less than 12 weeks to be seen.
NHS Scotland is aiming to meet a referral to treatment waiting time target of 18 weeks by December 2011.
"The NHS in Scotland must be congratulated for its continuing commitment to improving performance. These results represent the best ever performance by the health service north of the border and this is in no small part as a result of the hard work and determination of staff,” said Stugeon.
"Waiting for diagnosis or treatment can be an anxious time for patients and their families and that's why the government and NHS Scotland have put such a priority on cutting waiting times. The NHS has shown once again that it is in an excellent position to meet the 18 weeks referral to treatment target set to be introduced at the end of 2011.”
Katie Mackintosh
Katie is Holyrood magazine's Health Correspondent and has been with the magazine since 2005. She has an MA in Sociology with Gender from Edinburgh University and a post graduate diploma in Journalism from Napier University. Katie has twice been named PPA Scotland Feature Writer of the Year, in 2008 and again in 2009, and was shortlisted for magazine writer of the year at the Scottish Press Awards in 2012. She is an Aberdonian by birth, a Glaswegian by nature, who now lives in Fife with her...