NHS Highland board said it was confident of meeting the Scottish Executive target for cancer treatment waiting times in the Highlands by the end of the year when Public Health Minister Shona Robison arrived in Inverness to chair the board's annual review.

The authority is now failing to meet the national target and between January and March this year, for example, fewer than 75 per cent of patients were seen within the deadline.

During the review, held at the Centre for Health Sciences at Raigmore Hospital, health bosses outlined the measures, including closer monitoring of patients and introducing extra theatre lists, being taken in a bid to reduce the times.

Elaine Mead, NHS Highland's chief operating officer, said there were particular pressures regarding lung cancer as well as head and neck cancer but the biggest concern was in urology where improving performance in prostate cancer waiting times had been the most challenging.

Detailed reviews had identified significant delays at many stages of the patient journey including referral, access to rapid urgent first appointment and subsequent delays in treatment. As a result, there had been investment in specialist nurses to carry out biopsies and improved access to bone scanning while the possibility of extra theatre capacity was being explored.

Earlier this week The Inverness Courier revealed that 70 patients from Raigmore's urology department, requiring routine treatment, were being sent to the private Murrayfield Hospital in Edinburgh to help ease pressure on cancer waiting times.

"It is very difficult where you only have a small team," Ms Mead said. "We only have three urologists in Highland. We have to make sure we manage annual leave and look into future theatre capacity."

She acknowledged the importance of close monitoring. "We need to track every patient through the pathway," she said "That is what we are doing now. We know we are going to have a gap when a consultant is going to be away and we have to cram that in."

The team was confident the agreed initiatives would have a positive impact on prostate cancer waiting times in the next quarter.

Ms Robison acknowledged the challenges for smaller groups of staff in covering an area the size of the Highlands and the disproportionate impact when someone was off.

She also noted the board continued to regard cancer waiting times as a high priority and also pointed out that both she and Nicola Sturgeon, the cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing, monitored the cancer waiting lists weekly.

Health minister Shona Robison (second from right) chats with consultant oncologist David Whillis and his staff during the visit to Raigmore Hospital. Northern Exposures

Ms Robison said there were challenges without doubt and there had been "some pretty negative headlines" about cancer services in the Highlands.

"What I can say is I am very confident and reassured staff are working flat out to address some of the real challenges they have," she said. "Cancer outcomes in the Highlands are as good as they are in the rest of Scotland."

She was very reassured and had every confidence that staff would meet cancer waiting time targets by the end of the year.

Ms Robison also heard about the challenges facing NHS Highland in ensuring patients had access to dental services. By 2010, the Executive wants 65 per cent of adults under 65 to be registered with a dentist.

Medical director Ian Bashford said the remoteness of the Highlands was a difficulty in recruitment and retention as many dentists did not want to be a singled-handed dentist in an isolated area while others preferred to live in the central belt. The area was also disadvantaged by being distant from a dental school.

However, the opening next year of a Teach and Treat Centre in Inverness to link NHS service and training would present opportunities for the region's dental teams to be involved in undergraduate outreach and postgraduate training.

Afterwards, Ms Robison said the review had covered some key issues and concerns for patients in the NHS Highland area. "I commend the board on a successful year," she said. "Some issues will be worked on during the next few months. It has been a positive meeting and I have been greatly encouraged by a lot of what I have seen and heard," she said.

NHS Highland chairman Garry Coutts said: "Reviews are meant to get into discussions about areas where there are challenges and where we want to improve performance," he said. "I think members of the public were here today looking at that and would feel quite reassured that the government is scrutinising and holding us to account."

v.sweeney@inverness-courier.co.uk

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---