Question reference: S5W-35686
- Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 2 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 24 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the maximum 12-week waiting time for an NHS outpatient appointment is a mandatory legislative requirement.
Answer
The Treatment Time Guarantee was established through the Patent Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 and sets out the maximum waiting time that eligible patients should wait for agreed treatment to begin - which is 12 weeks.
To support Elective Care during COVID19 I published the Clinical Prioritisation Framework which sits alongside section 8(3) and (4) of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 which continues to require NHS Boards to take all reasonably available steps to ensure they are compliant with the treatment time guarantee (TTG). These steps include appropriately prioritising the start of the patient's treatment taking account of their clinical needs, and the clinical needs of other eligible patients, in accordance with the treatment time guarantee.