By Charlene Kelly

NHS FIFE announced ambitious plans yesterday to reduce waiting times from six months to six weeks by December 2007.

Fife Acute Hospitals divisional committee chairman Dave Stewart informed members at yesterday’s meeting that he believed the time was right to put into practice a strategy he has been working on for some time to get NHS Fife ahead of the game.

He said, “I’ve called it Six2Six because that’s exactly what it stands for. It is ambitious but it’s a clear statement of intent that says where we want to go—to reduce waiting times to six weeks by December 31, 2007.

“I’ve been working on it for about six months now but wanted to wait until the timing was right and we are sitting in a comfortable position now.” he added.

“We have the right amount of consultants, the money to put towards making it happen and other areas that previously had problems in the NHS have also stabilised.

“If we did a patient satisfaction survey, the vast majority would say the standard of NHS care they received was first class but they would not give the same good answer regarding the length of time they had to wait to receive that care, and we have to recognise that.

“The Government is no doubt going to set targets for all hospitals to achieve in the coming months but I believe NHS Fife should be proactive and set targets for itself.

“I don’t want us to be playing catch up all the time which is invariably what we have been doing.

“I want us to be way ahead of the game.

“NHS Fife has to move faster than it ever dreamed of if it’s going to face up to the competition that’s going to come our way in the coming years and I believe Six2Six is the way forward.”

Mr Stewart’s proposal received unanimous backing from board members.

Chief executive John Wilson said he agreed that waiting times were one of the biggest concerns among patients but added that a huge amount of issues had to be addressed across the whole system before Six2Six could be implemented.

“We have to look at the physical capacity of our hospitals, the number and types of staff required to help us reach that target and the running cost of such a venture,” he said.

Mr Wilson said he would look into what was required and bring his findings back to the board for further discussion at the next meeting on July 13.