According to Audit Scotland it will examine whether health boards are wrongly classifying patients as “unavailable” in order to remove them from waiting lists. This practice is already uncovered at NHS Lothian.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said there was “absolutely no evidence” that such practices were widespread. But Labour said auditors had acted after she repeatedly rejected demands for a Scotland-wide inquiry. The affair is deeply embarrassing for the Scottish Health Minister as in opposition she made political capital from the then Labour and Liberal Democrat administration using “hidden waiting lists”.
In a letter to Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie, the director of performance audit, Barbara Hurst, said, “The auditor general has now asked Audit Scotland to review the management of NHS waiting times, recognising the importance of this for patients and the public and the need for independent assurance in this area. We will examine how social unavailability codes have been used by NHS boards and will focus our attention around the period when discrepancies came to light in NHS Lothian.”
Ms Baillie said, “This is a hugely positive development and comes in sharp contrast to Nicola Sturgeon's attempts at Holyrood to block an inquiry into the SNP's hidden waiting times scandal. Scottish Labour has been pressing the government to hold a full, independent, Scotland-wide investigation for months now. But at every turn the SNP seemed desperate to brush our concerns under the carpet.”
Miss Sturgeon has ordered Scotland’s 14 health boards to start hospital treatment for 90 per cent of patients within 18 weeks of them being referred by their GPs. NHS Lothian instead offered them care in England at short notice then removed them from the waiting list if they refused to travel. They were excluded from official figures on waiting times and their medical records were retrospectively altered to falsely show they were unavailable for treatment.
Miss Sturgeon ordered all boards to conduct an internal audit of their waiting times procedures, but Robert Black, the Auditor General, has ordered a separate inquiry to reassure patients the findings are “independent”.
Miss Sturgeon said yesterday, “There is absolutely no evidence that these practices are widespread. However, it is important to show that recording of waiting times data is accurate and transparent. This work will give the public further confidence in the waiting times system.”
Audit Scotland's report will go to parliament after the summer recess.