Chamberlain raises Fife cardiology concerns as patients wait two years for care

North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain has raised concerns over long waits for cardiology services in Fife as she revealed new data showing patients waiting more than two years for care.

A freedom of information request submitted by Scottish Liberal Democrats shows that in NHS Fife, the longest waiting time for a patient to be seen by cardiology services recorded in the last 12 months was 129 weeks.

The current longest waiting time (i.e. the patient who has currently been waiting the longest and has not yet been seen) – 123 weeks.

211 patients are currently waiting for a cardiology outpatient appointment who have been waiting more than 52 weeks, while 16 patients have been waiting more than 104 weeks (2 years).

In response to enquiries made by Ms Chamberlain on behalf of constituents, NHS Fife advised that the current wait-time is 117 weeks.

Commenting on the figures, Ms Chamberlain said:

“With the equivalent of one in six Scots now on a waiting list, long waits for specialist care are a blight on Scotland.

“I know the staff at NHS Fife are almost as frustrated as patients are because there just isn’t enough of them to go around.

“On top of the stress of knowing you are not getting treated, long waits for care affect people’s lives in unexpected ways too.

“I’ve had constituents getting in touch wanting to take a well-earned holiday but they can’t go because they can’t get travel insurance approved until after their appointments take place - as I am sure you can imagine, they are very frustrated by this situation.

"SNP Health Secretaries come and go without making a dent and it looks as if Neil Gray will go the same way.

"If you're frustrated with the SNP making you wait to access the NHS, vote Scottish Liberal Democrats on your peach regional ballot and help us to kick them out.”