Pledge to cut NHS wait times

NewsBot · Apr 9, 2007

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The Daily Record are reporting:
PLEDGE TO CUT NHS WAIT TIME COUNTDOWN TO MAY 3rd

LABOUR are to unveil a promise to halve NHS patients' waiting times.

The pledge will be included in the party's manifesto which is to be released tomorrow.

Labour have made the health service a key platform in their Holyrood election campaign.

The proposals to speed up dellivery of treatment will make the new deadlines guaranteed and will apply to hospitals, outpatients and other services such as physiotherapy and chiropody.

At present, patients are guaranteed to wait no more than 18 weeks from seeing their GP to getting a consultant's appointment and a further 18 weeks until they get treatment.

But by 2011, Labour plan the guaranteed waiting time from GP to treatment will be cut to 18 weeks.

Patients needing additional help from physiotherapists, chiropodists, dieticians and clinical psychologists will see their guaranteed waiting time cut from 18 weeks to nine.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said: "We have made real, solid progress in cutting inpatient waiting times from 18 months to 18 weeks. That is an endorsement of Labour's approach to the health service.

"Outpatient waiting, the Tories didn't even measure. We are reducing it significantly and it will be down to 18 weeks also, by the end of this year.

"What we are guaranteeing is that the journey from GP to treatment will be no more than 18 weeks, which is pretty remarkable considering all the other things we have taken on."

He said Labour were responding to patients with the "significant commitment".

Kerr added: "Patients continue to tell me they want their health service to be fast, local, to be responsive and that's what we are delivering, along with high quality and safety."

He said more than half of hospital patients did not wait because they went through accident and emergency units or simply turned up at hospital.

He added: "I think the changes to the waiting time for ancillary services will make a massive difference to the quality of people's lives.

"We have tackled the big issues around operations and interventions but now we are working on quality of life issues, the day to day issues in the health service which we will deliver."
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Admin2 · Apr 10, 2007

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Robertisaacs · Apr 10, 2007

I wish there was a smilie for SNARL!

The drive to accrue political capital by cutting waiting times is what let to the Massive Buget deficit which caused the wave of redundancies we are suffering now. This will, in time, cause the waiting lists to rise again. It's like budgetry crash dieting. It's unhealthy and ultimatly unsuccessful. If the Management structure did not rotate every few years somebody might actually be held to account for the service collapse / budget crisis (depending on which phase of the cycle we are in) but the cunning system means that the people who throw the excrement in the air never stick aroung to see it fall!

I wish there was a pledge by politicians to LEAVE THE NHS THE HELL ALONE!!!

Robert

Pledge to cut NHS wait times

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Pledge to cut NHS wait times

NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

Admin2 Administrator Staff Member

Robertisaacs MVP

Angry campaigners pledge to fight service cuts at hospital

Sudden exertions causing acute pain at ankle/top of foot

Topical oxygen therapy in acute traumatic musculoskeletal wounds of the foot and ankle

Pain from a Cutaneous Hair Splinter of the Sole

Foot Sole Cutaneous Sensitivity is Influenced by Foot Posture

Acute metatarsal fractures

Acute effects of warming up on Achilles tendon blood flow and stiffness

Share This Page

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