Question reference: S6W-04983
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 10 December 2021
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 December 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what resources it estimates are required to ensure that patients referred for orthopaedic treatment will start treatment within 18-week referral-to-treatment target.
Answer
We know that it will take time and a series of targeted actions to build back capacity and redesign patient pathways to bring treatment times back within targets for orthopaedic patients.
As part of the NHS Recovery Plan , which is backed by an overall investment of £1 billion, the Scottish Government is investing over £400 million to deliver 10 National Treatment Centres (NTCs) which will create protected elective capacity for an additional 40,000 surgeries and procedures across 12 specialties per year. The first of these opened at the Golden Jubilee in November 2020 and next three NTCs are due to open in NHS Fife, NHS Forth Valley and NHS Highland in 2022. These centres will be crucial to increasing orthopaedic capacity, which will in turn reduce the length of time patients are waiting for treatment.
Services are also embracing new ways of working, including virtual clinics and Active Clinical Referral Triage, which will support shorter time to diagnosis and treatment and continue to ensure patients receive the appropriate advice and support.