Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east health chiefs quizzed on chronic pain waiting times

Shona Robison
Shona Robison

Health Secretary Shona Robison has revealed that she quizzed north-east health chiefs about long waiting times experienced by the region’s chronic pain sufferers.

The SNP minister blamed staff shortages for a reduction in services but said she had been assured that extra clinics would begin this month.

The remarks follow concerns that NHS Grampian had spent just ÂŁ35,000 of almost ÂŁ5million of funding to cut waiting times on chronic pain, despite many patients having to wait more than double the 18-week treatment target.

After north-east MSP Tom Mason raised the issue at Holyrood, Ms Robison wrote to the Scottish Conservative saying that action was being taken.

She said: “I can assure you that this government is of course very much committed to ensuring that all patients have swift access to the full range of services they need from the NHS in Scotland.

“With regards to waiting times for access to pain clinics, I am aware the pain service in NHS Grampian has been dealing with a significant rate of staff absence during the past year, which has reduced the number of clinics they were able to run.

“I have been in contact with NHS Grampian about this matter and have been informed that additional clinics are being offered to patients this month to help improve performance.”

Last night, Mr Mason said he was pleased that the SNP government had acknowledged that there was a “serious problem” with the service at NHS Grampian.

He said: “The staffing problems experienced by the local health board are well-documented, but that will provide little comfort to those who are waiting to be seen.

“Additional clinics that are planned should help to improve the waiting times, and should be welcomed.

“However, the health board will continue to struggle in many areas until the recruitment challenges can be fully addressed and the government provides a fairer funding deal.”

NHS Grampian said patients were continuing to be dealt with according to their clinical needs.

A spokeswoman said: “The challenges we face in the chronic pain service across Grampian are well known, in particular around the difficulties in recruiting staff.

“It is a very specialist field and we continue to provide the best service we can in the current circumstances. We seek to maintain a balance in service delivery to new and review patients both in terms of procedures and out patients.

“Patients are prioritised on clinical need and if a patient’s condition changes their GP can alert the hospital.”