This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Minister welcomes heart treatment report
09/02/2004
Welcoming the first report of the Scottish Coronary
Revascularisation Register, Health Minister Malcolm
Chisholm said:
"This demonstrates the enormous gains through
improvements in treatment over the last seven years. Many
more patients are benefiting from quicker and more
effective treatment which can now be offered to frailer and
older patients..
"It is a great tribute to the hard work by teams of
staff across the National Health Service in Scotland in
taking up the challenges of modern medicine and harnessing
innovative techniques and new ways of working.
"It is a terrific achievement to have increased by
nearly 50 per cent the number of patients treated each
year. What makes this truly exceptional is that in the same
period, waiting times for patients have been dramatically
reduced. We are determined to build on this progress to
reduce waiting further.
"I am very thankful to the cardiac staff who have
brought this about. So too, I am sure, are more than 30,000
patients across Scotland who have been given a new lease of
life through revascularisation.
The work of the Register and reports like this
demonstrate a real commitment by the profession - which I
share - to drive up quality of care and treatment. It also
gives the public a very good insight into their health
service and how it works. As a result, we know now what an
excellent job it is doing - working to serve patients."