NHS Forth Valley: Patient who waited over 900 days for treatment unavailable for appointments seven times

Figures released through a freedom of information request from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, reveal there are currently 266 people in this health board area who have been referred for specialist treatment but waited over 12 months for an appointment.

However, health chiefs at NHS Forth Valley have hit back, saying they are one of the best performing boards in Scotland, hitting targets ahead of schedule and that the patient waiting for 905 days had turned down the opportunity for treatment seven times.

Referring to the FOI figures, which also showed that a patient who started treatment in the last five years had to wait 1074 days before treatment began, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “I was shocked to uncover NHS Forth Valley patients waiting the better part of three years for treatment.

“Each of these cases is going to be dependent on individual circumstances but the idea that you could be waiting for years before your medical needs are met is unbearably tough.

“From meeting with doctors and nurses I know that it saddens them to tell patients that they could be facing waits of months or even years to get treatment under this SNP/Green Government.

“With one in seven Scots on a waiting list, it is incumbent that the new Health Secretary gets a grip on the situation and takes action to drive down long waits.

“We need a massive expansion of training places, fresh measures to stop the exodus of experienced staff and an NHS Staff Assembly which puts the knowledge of those who know the service best at the heart of how we rebuild our health care system.”

A spokesperson for NHS Forth Valley said: “The patient with the current longest wait (905 days) had already received initial treatment and was then referred for follow up surgery. However they had seven separate periods where they were personally unavailable for treatment (including one extended period of four months) and turned down an appointment they were offered earlier this year as they were going on holiday.

"NHS Forth Valley is one of the best performing NHS boards in relation to waiting times for inpatient and day case treatment and actually met the Scottish Government’s new target to treat those patients waiting longer than 18 months in most specialities by the end of September 2022, one year ahead of target, as in September 2022 there were 36 patients waiting longer than 18 months and this had reduced to 34 by March 2023. The target aims to ensure the vast majority of patients across most specialities do not wait longer than 18 months (one year by Sept 2024) while recognising that there will always be a small number of patients who wait longer due to the very complex nature of their procedure which may require treatment in a specialist centre.”