Government under fire over missed NHS targets
Opposition parties have accused the Scottish Government of failing to properly manage the NHS after new figures showed a number of key waiting times targets have been missed.
Opposition parties have accused the Scottish Government of failing to properly manage the NHS after new figures showed a number of key waiting times targets have been missed.
Official health statistics show a target to treat 90% of patients within 18 weeks was not met in December.
The NHS also failed to meet a legal obligation for patients' treatment to start within 12 weeks of it being agreed by a specialist during the final quarter of 2016.
The proportion of people waiting longer than 12 weeks for an outpatient appointment or a key diagnostic test was also up in December.
Scottish Labour said the statistics show the Government's "callous mismanagement of the service", while the Conservatives said ministers must explain the "disastrous slump" in waiting times.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said it is "extremely important" patients who are waiting for treatment such as surgery, a diagnostic test or an outpatient consultation are seen as quickly as possible, and highlighted NHS investment and reforms.
Waiting times statistics published on Tuesday show that in December 2016, 83.8% of people waited less than 18 weeks for treatment from the point they were referred by their doctor.
The proportion of patients seen within the 18-week referral to treatment standard was down from 84.7% in September 2016 and 87.1% in December 2015.
Figures also show that during the quarter from October to December last year, 86.7% of patients were seen within the 12-week treatment time guarantee, down from 89% the previous quarter and from 95.3% during the final quarter of 2015.
Meanwhile, 75.8% of patients waiting for a new outpatient appointment at December 31 had been waiting 12 weeks or less, down from 79.2% at September 30 and 87.6% at December 31, 2015.
A total of 86.1% of patients waiting for a key diagnostic test at December 31 had been waiting less than six weeks. This compares to 90.1% at September 30, and 93.2% at December 31, 2015.
Figures for A&E attendances in the week ending February 19 show 92.9% of people were seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, missing the 95% target.
Scottish Labour's health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: "This is a day of shame for the SNP and their callous mismanagement of our health service.
"The SNP is sleepwalking into an NHS crisis and is in complete denial about its negligence of our most valued public service."
Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron said: "This is all on the SNP's watch, and it has to explain the disastrous slump in these crucial waiting times, given it's been running the NHS for almost a decade."
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: "Front-line staff have consistently warned of the crisis facing our NHS. The waiting times statistics published today reveal the impact that this is having upon patients and staff."
Ms Robison said: "We're investing substantially in social care and community care, with a view to keeping people healthy at home for as long as possible. This will, in time, help prevent the need for many people to go to hospital.
"These changes won't happen overnight but they are part of a clear, long-term strategy of matching increased investment in our NHS with reform to ensure our health service is providing care to the people of Scotland long into the future."