Huge physiotherapy waiting list

Government challenged over ‘shameful’ figures showing 20,000 sufferers without treatment

By Cameron Brooks

Published:

The Scottish Government came under fire yesterday after it emerged that more than 20,000 people across Scotland are on NHS waiting lists for physiotherapy.

The Conservatives said immediate action was needed to reduce the numbers to help patients to recover from illness more quickly.

Party health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon challenged Public Health Minister Shona Robison on the figures at Holyrood yesterday. Information released under freedom of information laws showed that 3,661 people in the NHS Tayside area are waiting for treatment.

Some 1,340 people are on NHS Highland waiting lists, 120 in Orkney and 127 in the Western Isles. No figure was available for Shetland.

NHS Grampian said only certain hospitals recorded how many people are on waiting lists and gathering all the data would be too costly under freedom of information guidelines.

Chief executive Richard Carey revealed that, of the hospitals that do keep records, 384 patients are on waiting lists.

Some 245 of them are waiting for treatment at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin where the average waiting time is 14 weeks.

Ms Scanlon, a Highlands and Islands MSP, said: “Not only is it shameful that the Scottish Government has no record of these figures but when I did uncover the figures, they were truly shocking.

“Over 20,000 people across Scotland, many of them in pain, are waiting to see a physiotherapist.

“The SNP manifesto promised to reduce waiting times for physiotherapy but they can’t even tell us if they have done that.

“Yet another group of people have been let down by yet another broken promise from Alex Salmond’s SNP.”

North-east Tory MSP Nanette Milne has called on NHS Grampian to collect reliable information in the future to build up a clear picture of the problems being faced.

Ms Robison told MSPs that, under the SNP, waiting times were coming down in general, a trend only made possible if physiotherapy waiting times are being reduced.

The Dundee East MSP said the number of physiotherapists working within the NHS had increased by 4% in recent times, which should be welcomed. Ms Robison said: “We are aware waiting times do vary in different parts of the country but work is ongoing within boards to standardise processes, resources and practice.

“We are currently funding a two-year project to capture data on workload activity which will meet that data gap.”

Ms Robison said the government is “working very hard” with the NHS to identify new ways of working to improve patient care.