Listen
Pledge on NHS waiting lists
19/09/2007
Patients will no longer be part of hidden waiting lists under a new system that will replace Availabilty Status Codes (ASCs) by the end of this year.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon today outlined to Parliament the steps being taken to ensure an end to situation where some patients wait months, and in some cases years, for treatment. She pledged an improved, more patient-focused service that will be fully transparent and open to public scrutiny.
The new system of measuring waiting times aims to ensure that all patients will be treated within waiting time guarantees.
Read the full text of the Cabinet Secretary's statement to Parliament
Key elements of the new approach are:
- Patients will no longer be excluded from waiting time guarantees because their treatment is considered either of low clinical priority or too highly specialised
- Patients who become unavailable for treatment for a period of time will no longer lose their waiting time guarantee - instead their period of unavailability will be taken into account in measuring how long they have been waiting, and they will be kept under regular review
- Patients who under the current system, could lose their waiting time guarantee for cancelling an appointment will, instead, be given two opportunities to rearrange appointments. However, if they cancel on more than two occasions they may be removed from the waiting list and referred back to their GP
Ms Sturgeon said: "
"Patients have lived with the consequences of hidden waiting lists for too long. They deserve a better, more transparent system that makes clear what they can expect from health boards and what is required of them to ensure prompt medical referral and treatment.
"I want to see a fair, open and more consistent approach across Scotland, ensuring that no patient will be placed outside waiting times guarantees and that long, unexplained waits come to an end.
"I also want to see an appointments system that is more flexible. In future, patients will be offered a choice of two dates, with at least three weeks notice in a bid to make the new system more patient-friendly. They will also have the opportunity to rearrange these appointments and be offered new dates if they become unavailable or are unwell without losing their waiting times guarantee."
Ms Sturgeon also pledged that the new system will be open to full public scrutiny. She said:
"Past experience shows that just changing the system of measuring waiting times will not guarantee the end of hidden waiting lists. Any system that is not fully transparent will potentially be open to abuse.
"That's why information about waiting times, including comprehensive information about 'unavailable' patients, will be published regularly on the ISD website.
"In addition, patients will be entitled to ask, at any time, to see waiting time information held by the local NHS Board about them and if necessary to have it corrected.
"I have also invited the Auditor General for Scotland to undertake a review of how the NHS applies the new approach."
Ms Sturgeon concluded:
"Today's statement will help promote awareness of the new arrangements and ensure that they operate, as intended, to the benefit of patients across Scotland. Information about the new system is being made available to GPs, hospitals and patients.
"It will also assure the public of the government's determination to ensure that there will be no more hidden waiting lists in our NHS."