NHS waiting lists rise

Some 11,000 more patients are having to wait

Hospital waiting lists in Scotland are up 15% on this time last year.

That means an increase of more than 11,000 people waiting for NHS treatment.

Opposition parties believe the rise points to the fact Labour is failing to deliver on a key election pledge.

The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon said "this is deeply embarrassing for Labour" and the Conservatives' Mary Scanlon said that people had a right to feel "cheated and betrayed".

However, the Scottish Executive says it is committed to reducing both the number of people on waiting lists and the length of time they are having to wait.

Labour promise

The Liberal Democrats Nora Radcliffe said the figures should be seen against a background of an NHS doing more operations year on year.

And Labour's Malcolm Chisholm added the important thing to patients was not the length of a waiting list but when they get treated.

He added that people most were getting treated within a three month period.

When Labour came into power in 1997 it promised to make cutting waiting lists its priority.

Susan Deacon: Scottish Health Minister

By September last year the figure was down to 75,000, but 12 months on the numbers are up again and currently worse than they were three years ago.

And only two weeks ago doctors warned that the worst flu epidemic for 25 years could be on its way, putting further pressure on hospital beds and waiting list figures.

Earlier this year Health Minister Susan Deacon announced the deployment of special teams to probe why the lists were rising.

She said she was disappointed by the figures of the time and acknowledged that more needed to be done to "win the war" on NHS waiting.

Ms Deacon also plans to write to all health trust chairmen to make clear that she "expects a reduction" in waiting lists and times.

She said that by the end of the year she wanted no patient to have to wait more than 12 months for treatment.