By Marjory Inglis, health reporter

TAYSIDE HEALTH bosses want to make clear to the public what they can expect from their health service.

They want a “plain English” leaflet that tells the public how long they will have to wait for tests, treatment and operations and what action to take if promises are not met.

Members of the board of NHS Tayside, meeting in Kings Cross Hospital, Dundee, yesterday considered a massive document setting out reams of commitments, containing both national and local health targets and guarantees. Many had dates attached outlining when certain goals should be achieved.

But despite the plethora of information to hand, debate around the table made clear it was confusing.

Nevertheless, there was also an understanding that the public had a right and a need to know what was important information and that it should be produced in a more digestible form for members of the public.

There was a particular call to establish the difference between what were definite guarantees, such as the maximum time a patient should wait for a particular operation, and what were “aspirational” targets.

Non-executive member Liz Forsyth said some of the targets such as the commitment to reduce suicides by 20% by 2013 were long term, but others were quite short term and included some, such as maximum waiting times for treatment, to be achieved in this year.

“If you were a patient affected in one of these areas, I think it would be really helpful to be able to hold us to account,” said Mrs Forsyth.

Chairman Peter Bates said it would be helpful to produce a plain English leaflet that would be widely available.

Referring to the lists of commitments, he asked, “Are these promises? Are they targets? Are they aspirational hopes? And if they are promises, what is our capacity to meet them and how do we inform the wider community?”

NHS Tayside’s chief operating officer Gerry Marr said that where the Scottish Executive gave a maximum waiting time as a definite guarantee and that could not be met in the local service, the health board was required to find treatment for that patient elsewhere and pay for it. That commitment was “clear and simple.”

He agreed work had to be done to make sure members of the public understood what they were entitled to expect.

Medical director Dr Stewart Forsyth said that the vast majority of patients were treated well within maximum guaranteed waiting times.

The board agreed that a plain English leaflet would be produced by the organisation’s communications department and brought back to the next board meeting for approval before distribution to the public.