Question reference: S5W-25993
- Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 28 October 2019
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 November 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in the Audit Scotland report, NHS in Scotland 2019, that NHS Tayside has missed the national target for (a) CAMHS patients being seen within 18 weeks, (b) outpatients waiting less than 12 weeks following first referral and (c) day case and inpatients waiting less than 12 weeks for treatment.
Answer
Since 2016, the Scottish Government has invested nearly £2.7 million in NHS Tayside for capacity building and workforce development to improve mental health waiting times.
There have been improvements in NHS Tayside’s performance and this was discussed at the mid-year review meeting with NHS Tayside’s Chair and Chief Executive. However, I do recognise that some aspects of NHS Tayside’s target performance is below the level required. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring all patients have swift and safe access to NHS services.
As part of the Waiting Times Improvement Plan which I published in October last year we are making available more than £102 million in 2019-20, of which more than £9 million has been made available to NHS Tayside to increase capacity in the system, for example, staffing, evening and weekend clinics and additional theatre sessions to ensure progress towards delivering the Waiting Times Improvement Plan.