Endoscopy waiting times 'through the roof' in Ayrshire and Arran as massive 500 per cent increase is recorded

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Endoscopy waiting times in Ayrshire and Arran have risen by more than 500 per cent, new figures show. In November 2019, 190 patients waited longer than six weeks for an upper-endoscopy test in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.However, In December 2021, this rose to 1,146, representing a massive increase of more than 500 per cent.The figures come from Public Health Scotland.They also show that 29.4 per cent of patients waited more than 54 weeks for upper endoscopy tests.South Scotland Conservative List MSP, Sharon Dowey, has urged the Scottish Government to take swift action.

She said: “For months I’ve been calling on Humza Yousaf to reduce waiting times for vital services in NHS Ayrshire and Arran.“I can see from the stats that almost half of all patients waited longer than six weeks for the endoscopy test in March 2019, long before the pandemic hit.“We all know how important early detection is.

Early detection can prevent complications down the line and increases the chance of survival of many diseases, including cancer.“It isn’t acceptable to let patients wait over 54 weeks for an endoscopy, a test which could reveal serious health issues such as cancer.”A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Patients continue to be seen based on their clinical urgency, for example, those referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer continue to be prioritised for key diagnostic tests.“To specifically support scope based diagnostics we have published an Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Recovery and Renewal plan backed by £70 million.”Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley SNP MSP Willie Coffey said: “The SNP Scottish Government is investing more than £1bn in our NHS Recovery Plan to increase NHS capacity and help our health service recover from the