Number of NHS outpatients waiting more than a year for treatment rises by 420%

THE number of NHS outpatients who waited more than a year for treatment increased by more than 400% last year, according to new figures.

A total of 1,186 people waited more than 12 months for hospital treatment in 2016 compared to 228 in 2015, an increase of 420%, the Information Services Division Scotland data revealed.

The figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives through Freedom of Information show of those waiting more than a year in 2016, 16 faced a two-year wait and two waited four years.

Most outpatients waiting more than 12 months were getting urology treatment (303), followed by people waiting for trauma and orthopaedic surgery (277) and gastroenterology patients (170).

The number of people treated in under a year fell by more than 28,000 in the same period from 1,462,989 in 2015 to 1,434,813 last year.

The party’s health spokesman Miles Briggs said it was evidence of “shoddy planning” by the Scottish Government, adding “nobody should have to wait longer than a year for care”.

He said: “This is just another measure which shows a real collapse in the standard of service being offered to patients.

“That’s not the fault of hardworking staff – this is all on an SNP government whose shoddy forward planning has led to these unacceptable delays.

“To see these statistics shoot up by more than 400% in the space of just a year is remarkable.”