Number Waiting For Tests 'Doubles'

The number of people waiting more than six weeks for key clinical tests in the NHS has more than doubled in the last year, according to Scottish Labour.

In March 2009, the Scottish Government set a national standard that patients should be waiting no more than six weeks for one of eight key diagnostic tests and investigations, with a view to ensuring early detection of conditions such as cancer.

The tests are upper and lower endoscopy, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, CT scans, MRI scans, barium studies and non-obstetric ultrasounds.

But Scottish Labour said its analysis showed that more and more patients'' are missing out on early treatment, and blamed what it called the Scottish Government'sdecision to squeeze the NHS budget even harder than the Tories''.

The official figures highlighted by the party are contained in a recent statistical publication from ISD Scotland.

According to the data, the total number of people waiting more than six weeks in Scotland across all eight tests was 5,314 at the end of March this year.

This was up from 2,472 at the same time last year, a rise of 115%.

When it came to CT scans alone, nearly 10 times as many people have been waiting more than six weeks compared to last year, up from 22 to 200 in the same period.

Scottish Labour's health spokeswoman Jenny Marra called for the matter to be addressed urgently.

She said: These targets are there to ensure that people with potentially serious conditions get the benefit of early detection and have the best possible chance of a full recovery but more and more patients are having to wait longer than the six weeks.

Our NHS is being overwhelmed because there simply aren't enough resources going in to cope with the targets being set by the Scottish Government in Edinburgh.

They took the decision to squeeze the NHS budget even harder than the Tories and the consequence has been people being made to wait longer and longer.

There is no point setting targets unless you resource our hospitals properly. This has to be addressed urgently or patient care will continue to suffer.''