This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Action to tackle outpatient waiting
30/12/2002
The first task of the new Centre for Change and Innovation, CCI, will be a root and branch review of outpatient services in Scotland, it was announced today.
The CCI, will look to improve the outpatient journey in the wake of the announcement of the target that no patient should wait more than 6 months for a new outpatient appointment by 2006.
The specific remit of the project will be to ensure that patient access to outpatient services "is in the right place at the right time".
It will look to:
* shorten waiting times;
* improve access;
* increase choice; and
* provide more and improved information.
Announcing the project, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:
"We have set significant new challenges for NHSScotland in relation to outpatient services and waiting. Over the course of the next few years a sustainable step change in performance will be required to meet the new target.
"To help I have asked the Centre for Change and Innovation to undertake a root and branch review of how we provide outpatient services in Scotland.
"This project will involve all parts of NHSScotland and external agencies where appropriate - local government and the voluntary sector.
"I want to see reductions on outpatient waiting times, a positive impact on the patient journey and improvements to the whole system. But also I want it to have a positive impact on staff. I want to see them benefit from the project and see their skills developed.
"This is about delivering new and innovative ways of working with a fundamental redesign of our outpatient service. The result will be a service which is responsive to patients and where long waits are driven down and kept down.
"This is an ambitious programme and I am confident it will fundamentally change outpatient services in Scotland."
The Minister was speaking on the day the National Waiting Times Database went 'live'.
The database will be available on NHSnet and will allow patients to sit down with their GP and look at information on outpatient waiting times across Scotland.
The new database contains approximately 3,600 individual clinics and cover 8 major specialities - general medicine, general surgery, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, urology, gynaecology, dermatology and orthopaedics. It will be developed over the coming months to include all specialities.
Launching the database the Minister said:
"This new database will provide comparative information on waiting times of routine outpatient appointments across Scotland. Not only will it improve patient choice but will be a useful tool in driving waiting times down.
"From today this service will be available in GP surgeries. It will be available for the general public to access in Spring 2003."
The new database contains approximately 3,600 individual clinics. These cover 8 major specialities which account for approximately 80 per cent of all outpatient consultations.
From published ISD statistics 88.2 per cent of outpatients are seen within 26 weeks.
* approx. 2,620 (73 per cent) of the 3,600 clinics have a median wait of 13 weeks or less.