NHS meets waiting times target

Targets for treatment set by ministers have been met

The NHS has met its target on hospital waiting times in Scotland, according to figures.

A report on performance found that no patient with a guarantee for treatment had to wait for more than nine months.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm welcomed the statistics as a "huge step forward" in patient care.

But the Scottish National Party claimed that the overall waiting list was at its second highest ever level, with average waiting times up by six days.

Ministers introduced the guarantee of inpatient or day case treatment within a maximum of nine-months last year.

'Absolute guarantee'

The figures published by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) show that on 31 December, 2003, no patient with a guarantee waited over nine months, compared with nearly 2,000 patients a year ago.

Mr Chisholm said: "This is a huge step forward for people in Scotland. Replacing targets with guarantees shows the confidence that we have in our plans to tackle waiting in Scotland over the long-term.

"We have said if your condition requires it, you will be treated quickly. Of those who do join a waiting list, almost half are seen within one month and three quarters are seen within three months.

They conveniently forget to mention the 28,000 patents without a guarantee Shona Robison SNP health spokeswoman

"We have also said that we will prioritise the treatment of those who have waited the longest and we are honest enough to say that this may mean others waiting slightly longer in return for getting the absolute guarantee of treatment within nine months that we introduced in Scotland for the first time last year."

But the SNP said the ISD study revealed that the waiting list for inpatient and day cases was 112,022 , up 3,129 on the year and 15,661 on June 1999.

Health spokeswoman Shona Robison said the report betrayed an "appalling" record.

She said: "Hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent and the only thing ministers have to crow about is they have managed to treat the 900 or so patients with a guarantee within nine months.

"They conveniently forget to mention the 28,000 patents without a guarantee."

Conservative health spokesman David Davidson accused the minister of complacency.

Mr Davidson said: "Whilst I clearly welcome the fact that those patients who had previously waited over nine months now do not have to, it is simply a trickle of good news against a tide of disaster in our health service.

"The government's self-congratulation is an insult to all the people who suffer from the way they run health care in our country."