This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Action to tackle outpatient waiting
30/12/2002
The first task of the new Centre for Change and
Innovation, CCI, will be a root and branch review of
outpatient services in Scotland, it was announced
today.
The CCI, will look to improve the outpatient journey in
the wake of the announcement of the target that no patient
should wait more than 6 months for a new outpatient
appointment by 2006.
The specific remit of the project will be to ensure that
patient access to outpatient services "is in the right
place at the right time".
It will look to:
* shorten waiting times;
* improve access;
* increase choice; and
* provide more and improved information.
Announcing the project, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm
said:
"We have set significant new challenges for NHSScotland
in relation to outpatient services and waiting. Over the
course of the next few years a sustainable step change in
performance will be required to meet the new target.
"To help I have asked the Centre for Change and
Innovation to undertake a root and branch review of how we
provide outpatient services in Scotland.
"This project will involve all parts of NHSScotland and
external agencies where appropriate - local government and
the voluntary sector.
"I want to see reductions on outpatient waiting times, a
positive impact on the patient journey and improvements to
the whole system. But also I want it to have a positive
impact on staff. I want to see them benefit from the
project and see their skills developed.
"This is about delivering new and innovative ways of
working with a fundamental redesign of our outpatient
service. The result will be a service which is responsive
to patients and where long waits are driven down and kept
down.
"This is an ambitious programme and I am confident it
will fundamentally change outpatient services in
Scotland."
The Minister was speaking on the day the National
Waiting Times Database went 'live'.
The database will be available on NHSnet and will allow
patients to sit down with their GP and look at information
on outpatient waiting times across Scotland.
The new database contains approximately 3,600 individual
clinics and cover 8 major specialities - general medicine,
general surgery, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat,
urology, gynaecology, dermatology and orthopaedics. It will
be developed over the coming months to include all
specialities.
Launching the database the Minister said:
"This new database will provide comparative information
on waiting times of routine outpatient appointments across
Scotland. Not only will it improve patient choice but will
be a useful tool in driving waiting times down.
"From today this service will be available in GP
surgeries. It will be available for the general public to
access in Spring 2003."
The new database contains approximately 3,600 individual
clinics. These cover 8 major specialities which account for
approximately 80 per cent of all outpatient
consultations.
From published ISD statistics 88.2 per cent of
outpatients are seen within 26 weeks.
* approx. 2,620 (73 per cent) of the 3,600 clinics have
a median wait of 13 weeks or less.