By Steve Bargeton, political editor

THE NUMBER of outpatients waiting for more than a year to see a consultant has gone up almost ninefold since the Scottish Executive took control of health, MSPs heard yesterday.

In June 1999, just after the first Holyrood elections, there were 885 people waiting over 52 weeks. By the end of December last year that figure had soared to 7679.

SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon used the figures from the Executive’s statistics division to bushwhack Jack McConnell at First Minister’s Questions yesterday.

Two weeks ago, during their weekly encounter, Mr McConnell heralded the “significant improvements” in outpatient waiting times.

“This morning the minister for health and community care has been outlining the dramatic reductions in the number of people who wait longest in the National Health Service and the significant improvements that are taking place in relation to outpatient appointments...” he said.

But Mr McConnell was left floundering when Ms Sturgeon delivered her bombshell yesterday.

“So when the First Minister said in the chamber there had been ‘a reduction in outpatient waiting times and a significant reduction in those waiting longest’ what did he mean?” she demanded.

The First Minister conceded that delays for outpatients had been “very poor indeed” and had required attention. The delays had come about because of an early decision to concentrate efforts on inpatients who had been waiting the longest time.

“One of the reasons that waiting times for outpatients were coming down in England but not in Scotland was the decision to concentrate on inpatients in Scotland at a very early stage,” he said.

But Ms Sturgeon pressed her point, saying, “There are eight times as many outpatients waiting more than a year to see a consultant now than when this government took office.

“The number has almost trebled since he became First Minister, and it’s still going up.”

Clearly on the back foot, Mr McConnell said, “I agree. It’s many years too late for those times to be coming down.

“But they are now coming down and they will continue to come down, because the focus is now right—on outpatient waiting times as well as inpatient waiting times. The earlier decision to concentrate solely on inpatient waiting times led to an increase in unacceptable delays for outpatients.”

Later a source close to the First Minister said that he “did not recognise” the figures produced by the SNP although he accepted they came from the Information and Statistics Division of the Scottish Executive.

The outpatient waiting list at the end of September last year stood at 265,228 and was 240,371 by the end of December—a drop of 9.4%.