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Patient 'removed' to meet targets 'Removed patients' to be treated
(about 2 hours later)
A plastic surgeon has taken patients off his waiting list to help meet Scottish Government targets. Patients wrongly removed from a health board's waiting list will be treated, following intervention from the Scottish Government.
NHS Tayside consultant Alex Munnoch said bosses told him to remove names as a "simple solution" to people waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment. NHS Tayside has now assured them they will receive the highly-specialised liposuction procedure.
The case has caused a political row after being raised at First Minister's Question Time in Holyrood. Plastic surgeon Alex Munnoch had told one patient she was being removed from the list as bosses were struggling to meet government waiting time targets.
Lib Dem Leader Nicol Stephen produced a letter from the surgeon to one patient informing her of the "bad news". He later withdrew the comments in a statement issued by NHS Tayside.
First Minister Alex Salmond said he and Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon would look into the case and deal with anything that affected the patient that might have been wrongly done. The row blew up after Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen produced a letter from Mr Munnoch to his patient, in which he said health board bosses told him to remove names as a "simple solution" to people waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment.
This is a shocking and scandalous situation - achieving the first minister's targets by dumping patients off the list Nicol StephenScottish Liberal Democrat leader Regardless of the reason, removing patients from waiting lists is unacceptable Nicola SturgeonHealth Secretary
The case emerged a day after Ms Sturgeon said that NHS boards were working to meet waiting targets. The consultant also explained to the patient - who lives in the NHS Lothian area - that there was no cash to fund the treatment for her condition, lymphodema.
According to the statistics, on 31 December 2007 no patient waited more than 18 weeks for a first outpatient consultation following a GP referral or for inpatient or day case treatment. Just hours after Mr Stephen read out extracts of the letter during question time at Holyrood, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the patient's removal from the waiting list was unacceptable and would be reversed.
In the letter, Mr Munnoch, based at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital, stated that a "significant" number of patients were in breach of the 18-week target. Meanwhile Mr Munnoch - the only surgeon in the UK who can perform the required procedure - later said he had been placed under no pressure by Tayside health chiefs to alter waiting lists inappropriately.
He also explained that there was no funding to pay for the liposuction treatment, which the patient, who was not from the Tayside area, was due to receive for medical reasons. Ms Sturgeon insisted the removal was not about waiting time targets and, clarifying the lack of funding arrangements between the two health boards, made it clear NHS Lothian would be paying for the treatment.
Mr Stephen produced the letter during question time Nicol Stephen raised the issue at Holyrood
The specialist told his patient that she might wish to contact her local MSP, adding: "I will continue to keep your details with a view to trying to offer you surgery at some point in the future, with or without management's consent." She added: "Regardless of the reason, removing patients from waiting lists is unacceptable."
Mr Stephen told MSPs: "This is a shocking and scandalous situation - achieving the first minister's targets by dumping patients off the list." Senior NHS Tayside official Gerry Marr said the patients Mr Munnoch agreed to see would be treated in Tayside, but added that the health authority could not take on any more referrals.
He demanded of the first minister: "Will he promise to end this manipulation of the figures and ensure that those patients who have been devastated by letters like this now receive treatment from his government." However, talks on national funding for the service are to take place.
Mr Salmond told the former deputy first minister: "The whole purpose of the direction the SNP and this government is travelling in is to remove the hidden waiting lists, which were so much a feature of the government in which Nicol Stephen was such a prominent member." "Irrespective of the circumstances of this situation, I recognise the distress that may have been caused to the small number of patients involved and I apologise for this," Mr Marr said.
Mr Munnoch, based at Dundee's Ninewells Hospital, added: "I would like to make it clear that I have been under no pressure from managers in Tayside to alter waiting lists inappropriately."
Ms Sturgeon has written to all Scotland's health boards, warning them to stick to the guidance on waiting lists.