3 out of 10 chronic pain patients in Scotland waiting too long for treatment are in NHS Grampian

Posted by Jamie Mackie | Updated 2019-06-11

189 of 653 patients still waiting for their first appointment at a chronic pain clinic, after more than 18 weeks, in Scotland fall under NHS Grampian. According to figures for the first quarter of 2019, published today by NHS Scotland’s Information Services Division.

Only 21.2% of patients referred to an NHS Grampian clinic for chronic pain received their first appointment within 18 weeks during that period, with 189 people still on the waiting list for a first appointment 18 weeks after being referred. With some patients waiting 34 weeks or more for treatment.

For the first quarter of 2019, no other health board had a higher percentage of people waiting more than 18 weeks to be seen.

North East Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles said: “Forcing people to wait too long for treatment while they are in pain is inexcusable. I have repeatedly called on health ministers to look again at how our local health care is funded but it has fallen on deaf ears.

“NHS Grampian has been the worst funded health board in Scotland for well over a decade and it is the hard working staff and patients that rely on their care that have suffered.

“The responsibility for this appalling situation rests squarely at the feet of Scottish Government ministers who refuse to put NHS Grampian on an equal footing with other Scottish health boards and I don’t see anything changing while the SNP are in power.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

Find the latest NHS ISD figures here.

For the quarter ending 31/03/19:

NHS Board	Type of adjustment¹	Total Patients Waiting	Number of patients waiting to be seen for a first appointment at a pain clinic/service		Percentage of patients waiting to be seen for a first appointment at a pain clinic/service
NHS Board	Type of adjustment¹	Total Patients Waiting	0-18 weeks	over 18 weeks	0-18 weeks	over 18 weeks
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	NA,U,RO	292	291	1	99.7%	0.3%
NHS Borders	NA,U,RO	66	66	..	100.0%	0.0%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	U,RO	170	149	21	87.6%	12.4%
NHS Fife	NA,U,RO	285	285	0	100.0%	0.0%
NHS Forth Valley	NA,U	466	341	125	73.2%	26.8%
NHS Grampian	NA,U,RO	700	511	189	73.0%	27.0%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	NA,U,RO	1,577	1,326	251	84.1%	15.9%
NHS Highland	NA,U,RO	262	212	50	80.9%	19.1%
NHS Lanarkshire	NA,U,RO	209	209	0	100.0%	0.0%
NHS Lothian	NA,U,RO	458	456	2	99.6%	0.4%
NHS Orkney	NA,U,RO	15	15	0	100.0%	0.0%
NHS Shetland	NA,U,RO	29	29	0	100.0%	0.0%
NHS Tayside	NA,U,RO	202	188	14	93.1%	6.9%
NHS Western Isles	NA,U,RO	11	11	0	100.0%	0.0%
Scotland	..	4,742	4,089	653	86.2%	13.8%

NHS Board	Type of adjustment¹	Total Patients Seen	Number of patients seen at a pain clinic/service for a first appointment		Percentage of patients seen at a pain clinic/service for a first appointment		Median	90th Percentile
NHS Board	Type of adjustment¹	Total Patients Seen	0-18 weeks	over 18 weeks	0-18 weeks	over 18 weeks	(weeks)	(weeks)
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	NA,U,RO	247	236	11	95.5%	4.5%	12	14
NHS Borders	NA,U,RO	61	60	1	98.4%	1.6%	10	13
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	U,RO	118	82	36	69.5%	30.5%	17	21
NHS Fife	NA,U,RO	192	192	0	100.0%	0.0%	10	11
NHS Forth Valley	NA,U	303	46	257	15.2%	84.8%	27	32
NHS Grampian	NA,U,RO	345	73	272	21.2%	78.8%	27	34
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	NA,U,RO	692	136	556	19.7%	80.3%	21	24
NHS Highland	NA,U,RO	200	180	20	90.0%	10.0%	11	18
NHS Lanarkshire	NA,U,RO	301	301	0	100.0%	0.0%	10	12
NHS Lothian	NA,U,RO	524	524	0	100.0%	0.0%	11	12
NHS Orkney	NA,U,RO	17	17	0	100.0%	0.0%	11	12
NHS Shetland	NA,U,RO	27	27	0	100.0%	0.0%	11	12
NHS Tayside	NA,U,RO	178	163	15	91.6%	8.4%	12	18
NHS Western Isles	NA,U,RO	22	22	0	100.0%	0.0%	9	16
Scotland	..	3,227	2,059	1,168	63.8%	36.2%	12	28