The Scottish Government has been forced correct itself after inflating the number of health boards hitting a key accident and emergency target.
A press release praising the fact the NHS north of the border collectively met the reduced target to deal with 95% of A&E patients within four hours quoted Health Secretary Shona Robison as saying 13 out of the 14 boards met the prescribed timeframe.
However, the ISD Scotland figures cited actually said four NHS boards in Glasgow, Grampian, Lothian, and Ayrshire and Arran all missed the threshold, which was reduced on a temporary basis from 98% by the Scottish Government.
It follows 100 weeks of NHS bodies failing to meet the standard in their A&E departments. NHS Tayside has consistently exceeded expectations but NHS Fife has shown a sharp increase in performance over recent months.
The Dundee City East MSP said: “NHS staff have been working extremely hard to cut waiting times and deliver a first class service, and the figures published today are testament to this.
“It is also good to see that every health board in Scotland treated nine out of 10 people within four hours, with 13 reaching 95%. In addition, long waits continue to remain low.
“We now need to maintain this improvement and continue to achieve 95 per cent nationally throughout the summer to ensure that all health boards are in an optimum position as we head in to this winter.
“While this improvement in performance is welcomed, we know that there is always more work to do on A&E performance.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Jim Hume slammed the “spin before substance” claims and demanded a correction. The 98% target has not been met for 300 weeks, he claimed.
Mr Hume said: “The SNP Government must correct the record for what is simply a wrong and misleading claim. It seems they have been up to their old tricks of putting spin before substance.
“This isn’t fair on patients or on NHS staff. That it has taken 100 weeks to achieve this interim target demonstrates the scale of the problems faced by many hard-pressed health boards. It has been some 300 weeks since the SNP’s original target has been met.
“The crisis in our A&E units throughout the SNP’s time in office has shown that a hand-to-mouth approach will not work for our hospitals. SNP Ministers must listen to NHS staff and patients if they are to secure long term success against A&E waiting times.”
The Scottish Government later issued a correction, having blamed a typing error for the first release.
The second press release quoted Ms Robison as saying: “It is extremely promising that our core A&E departments are seeing and treating 95 per cent of patients within four hours.
“NHS staff have been working extremely hard to cut waiting times and deliver a first class service, and the figures published today are testament to this.
“It is also good to see that every health board in Scotland treated nine out of 10 people within four hours, with 13 treating around, or more than 95 per cent. In addition, long waits continue to remain low.”