Thousands of Scots with chronic pain are facing long, unknown waits for follow-up appointments, while the Scottish Government has admitted it cannot consistently track the scale of the problem. Ministers publish NHS waiting-time figures for patients awaiting their first specialist chronic pain appointment, but there is no consistent national reporting of how long patients wait to be seen again, leaving a big gap in transparency over treatment delays.
Labour MSP calls for transparency
Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon has accused the SNP Government of keeping patients in the dark by failing to publish figures on return appointments. She said patients deserved to know how long they were being left without further treatment and called on ministers to take action.
Lennon said: "The SNP Government is keeping patients in the dark and denying the public the information they deserve. That is simply not good enough."
Patients left to endure agonising waits
She added: "Thousands of Scots living with chronic pain are being left to endure agonising waits for the treatment they desperately need. And since ministers refuse to publish the full picture, patients are being failed without anyone held properly to account."
"We know how long people wait for their first appointment because those figures are published. But the delays for return appointments remain hidden. For years, patients have been campaigning for those waits to be counted and exposed. They deserve answers."
Government response
Lennon raised the issue in a parliamentary question, asking the government for an update on progress towards commitments made under its Pain Management Service Delivery Framework. She specifically asked what had been done to ensure waiting times for returning chronic pain patients were accurately captured and transparently reported.
In response earlier this month, Health Secretary Angela Constance said it was not possible to gather electronic data on return appointments in a consistent manner that could support routine national data collection and reporting. Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: "Everyone should be able to access the services they need, when and where they need them. That's why we continue to work closely with the NHS to make progress on the issues that people living with chronic pain have told us matter most to them."
Todd added that a group including Public Health Scotland considered the reporting of return appointments but concluded that it was not possible to gather electronic data in a consistent manner that could support routine national collection and reporting.
