NHS Fife has admitted it is unable to tackle the backlog of patients waiting for surgery because of a lack of funds.
The stark reality of public finances is laid bare in new board papers which show some patients will have to put up with even worse delays until a new specialist joins in September.
The board admits it will be unable to deliver reduced waiting times or tackle backlogs in areas including cancer, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and diagnostics.
The NHS Fife annual plan states “It is not possible to deliver year on year reductions in waiting times and tackle backlogs within the funding available.”
Instead, NHS Fife will prioritise urgent suspected cancer cases and treat the longest waiting patients.
Patients due to receive foot and ankle surgery are affected by the wait for a new surgeon expected to start work in September.
It comes after we revealed how patients were waiting two years or more for orthopaedic surgery – with referrals from NHS Lothian blamed.
Hundreds of Fife patients waiting 12 months
It had been hoped the new national treatment centre in Kirkcaldy would help tackle waiting lists.
NHS board papers from March suggested 32 patients in Fife have been waiting over 104 weeks, despite Scots having a legal right to treatment within three months.
Just 37.5% of patients received treatment within this time frame, with 300 orthopaedic surgery patients waiting more than 52 weeks.
Papers prepared for NHS Fife’s board meeting the June meeting also warn the size of its workforce is unlikely to increase.
“It is inevitable that the shape of our workforce may need to evolve to deliver affordable health and care services,” the plan adds.
“This evolution may result in a workforce that must either shrink, or at best, remain static.”
Graeme Downie, Scottish Labour’s candidate for Dunfermline and Dollar, said: “These papers show the stark reality of the NHS under the SNP for the last 17 years.
“With almost one in six Scots on a waiting list across the country, the SNP have failed to protect the NHS in Scotland, leading to too many patients being forced to try and go private and creating a two tier NHS.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are determined to ensure people receive the treatment they need as soon as possible and our investment of £30 million is being targeted at a series of national and local plans to reduce wait backlogs that built up throughout the pandemic.
“We are providing over £14.2 billion for NHS boards in 2024-25 to support services, a real-terms increase of almost 3%. The budget takes NHS Fife’s overall funding for 2024-25 to over £829.2 million.”
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