Hundreds of Fife patients have been forced to wait more than nine weeks for potentially life-saving heart tests, it has been revealed.
The number of people in Scotland waiting for echocardiology tests has steadily risen from 3,294 in October, 2011 to 8,888 in August 2016 before dropping to 5,917 the following month.
In Fife, 1,305 people were waiting for echocardiology tests in September last year – up from 367 in October 2011. Of these, 810 had been waiting for nine weeks.
NHS Fife told Labour’s local MSP Alex Rowley that part of the reason for this was vacancies for consultants in the specialism.
The diagnostic figures were uncovered by The Sunday Post and were only made public under freedom of information laws.
Unlike cancer tests, they are not covered by specific six-week waiting time targets imposed by the Scottish Government.
This has raised fears that cash-strapped health boards are simply prioritising the tests that have Scottish Government-set targets.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said she had made clear to boards she expected patients to be seen quickly and is putting in extra cash to try to clear the backlog.
But Scottish Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: “It seems in order to get treated in a reasonable timeframe you need to be tested for something with a Scottish Government target attached.
“The figures outlined here are extremely worrying and show just how badly the NHS is suffering under SNP stewardship.”
James Cant, director at British Heart Foundation Scotland, said: “We know that outcomes for anyone suspected of having cardiovascular disease improve when they have appropriate access to a cardiology service for diagnosis.”
Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: “These figures are completely unacceptable.”
Ms Robison said: “Demand for these tests have risen markedly in recent years. Despite this, almost double the number of patients have been seen within six weeks compared with 2011.
“But we want to go further. That’s why we’ve published a new strategy for responding to the rising demand in outpatient appointments, aiming to free up 400,000 of them by 2020. We’ve also invested an extra £10 million this month to deliver an extra 40,000 outpatient appointments immediately.”
