Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2012
17 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Waiting Times
In a minute.
I welcome the fact that the figures are now going down, but if we are honest, that has happened only since the problem at NHS Lothian was exposed.
The same is true across the country, not just in Lothian. We need only look at the local pictures to see the truth of that. In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the number of people who were removed from the waiting time guarantee was up threefold. In NHS Fife, the figure was also up threefold. NHS Grampian’s figure was up fivefold, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lanarkshire’s figures saw a fourfold increase.
I welcome the fact that the figures are now going down, but if we are honest, that has happened only since the problem at NHS Lothian was exposed.
The same is true across the country, not just in Lothian. We need only look at the local pictures to see the truth of that. In NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the number of people who were removed from the waiting time guarantee was up threefold. In NHS Fife, the figure was also up threefold. NHS Grampian’s figure was up fivefold, and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Lanarkshire’s figures saw a fourfold increase.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-02905, in the name of Jackie Baillie, on health.
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I wonder whether you can help me and other concerned members.Two weeks ago tomorrow, the appalling report into the ma...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Thank you. The business that is brought to Parliament is a matter for the Parliamentary Bureau, as you are aware. Government business is brought to the chamb...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab)
Lab
I welcome the opportunity to debate waiting times. We all know that if someone is ill, it can be an extremely worrying time. Getting a diagnosis and then get...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy (Nicola Sturgeon)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Jackie Baillie
Lab
In a minute.I welcome the fact that the figures are now going down, but if we are honest, that has happened only since the problem at NHS Lothian was exposed...
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
I have a genuine and very simple point, which I make in the interests of accuracy. Jackie Baillie just said something that I am sure she will concede was ina...
Jackie Baillie
Lab
I think that the cabinet secretary is dancing on the head of a pin. Patients in those circumstances do not have a waiting time guarantee. This is far too imp...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy (Nicola Sturgeon)
SNP
I welcome the debate. I know how important waiting times are to the public and I am proud of the Government’s record on waiting times. I pay an unequivocal t...
Neil Findlay
Lab
That is all very well, but the staff do not want the cabinet secretary’s thanks; they want a safe working environment in which they are respected and in whic...
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
That is what they will get for as long as this Government is in charge.If anything, progress on waiting times is even more impressive than progress on health...
Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister give way?
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
I will make some progress and give way shortly.All that progress is the result of the hard work and the commitment of tens of thousands of NHS staff, whose h...
Dr Simpson
Lab
Let me be quite clear: the cabinet secretary is saying that she will not ask questions when she sees variation. The NHS Lothian figures were in the public do...
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
That is not what I am saying, and Dr Simpson knows that. I will come on in a second to exactly the questions that I am asking.As I said, what happened in NHS...
Sarah Boyack (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention on that point?
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
No. I want to make progress.The social unavailability aspect of the new system is nothing like the old, discredited system of Labour. The new system gives pa...
Dr Simpson
Lab
Some do.
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
Order.
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
Their waiting time clock stops for the time that they are unavailable and, for 75 per cent of patients who have a period of social unavailability, it is a pe...
Sarah Boyack
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention on that point?
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
The minister is in her last minute.
Nicola Sturgeon
SNP
We will ensure that the findings of those investigations are made available not just to the Government, but to Audit Scotland. I welcome Audit Scotland’s ann...
Jackson Carlaw (West Scotland) (Con)
Con
Dear, dear. It is difficult not to be depressed by the two opening speeches—not that there were not things within them that were of interest or true. The nex...
Dr Simpson
Lab
Would the member be surprised to learn that NHS Ayrshire and Arran failed to record 26 per cent of its referral-to-treatment notifications? Twenty-six per ce...
Jackson Carlaw
Con
Naively, I am surprised. I would have thought that anybody should be surprised. Not only am I surprised, I am appalled. The situation needs to be investigate...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Elaine Smith)
Lab
We come to the open debate. We are tight for time so, unfortunately, I will not be able to give time back for interventions. Speeches should be of four minut...
Mark McDonald (North East Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I do not think that it is helpful to cast around aspersions and innuendo as to the motivations that lie behind decisions that are taken at NHS level, of whic...
Neil Findlay
Lab
Will the member give way?
Mark McDonald
SNP
I am sorry, but I have only four minutes. I am sure that the intervention would have been interesting. Some other time.As a member who represents North East ...