Halcro Johnston challenges Robison on NHS Grampian waiting times fiasco
Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has challenged the health secretary Shona Robison on NHS Grampian’s continuing record as the worst health board in Scotland for meeting waiting times targets.
The Scottish Conservative MSP also revealed confusion over one of the measures outlined to reduce cardiac waiting times. The health secretary Shona Robison had indicated an agreement to refer patients to Newcastle had been “secured” but this was disputed by NHS Grampian who said that the arrangement was “never finalised” and no patients were actually referred.
The board, which has service-level agreements to deliver certain services for NHS Orkney and NHS Shetland, continues to underperform significantly against national targets with most recent data showing that almost a third of patients fail to meet the national standard of being receiving treatment within 18 weeks of being referred. It has now been three and a half years since the NHS Grampian met national waiting times targets.
Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
“The health secretary had nothing to say on how or when she intends to end the waiting times crisis in NHS Grampian.
“Shona Robison mentioned funding arrangements, but seemed to ignore the fact that patients in the region already receive one of the lowest financial settlements per head for health spending in Scotland. It is clear that NHS Grampian continues to receive a bad deal from the Scottish Government.
“I also asked her about a scheme to refer cardiac patients from Grampian to Newcastle which she had previously told me had been secured but this has now been denied by the health board. These long waiting times have a real impact of the lives of people in Moray, Orkney and Shetland and this confusion simply isn’t good enough.
“The health secretary desperately needs to get on top of the problems at NHS Grampian and show that she at least has some awareness of what is going on in one of Scotland’s largest health boards.”