Get to grips with NHS wait times as terminally ill grandad kept for 15 hours

Record View says change is urgently needed.

A record £21billion will be spent on health and social care services across Scotland this year.

That’s a huge amount of taxpayers’ money in anyone’s book. But what are patients getting in return?

The number of Scots waiting longer than eight hours for care in an NHS emergency department has risen again.

And four per cent of patients who attended emergency departments waited more than 12 hours – up 3.7 per cent from the week before.

Today we tell the story of Peter Black, a terminally ill cancer patient who waited 15 hours at his local A&E department.

It was only when a family member begged the health board boss to step in that Peter was finally treated.

Peter’s harrowing story illustrates a problem which is being repeated in casualty departments across the country.

But it’s not only A&E wards that are struggling. Around one in six adult Scots are on waiting lists for a variety of procedures.

Turning around our struggling service can’t simply be about finding more and more money to throw at it.

Scotland already spends an estimated six per cent more per person on health than England.

Frontline staff like doctors and nurses deserve to be paid well for their heroic efforts in hospitals across the country.

This is clearly a much deeper problem. Neil Gray, the Health Secretary, must start a public conversation about what is going wrong and how it can be put right.

The structure and management of existing health boards must be looked at. Why is it that senior managers – often on huge salaries – are not capable of fixing services on their own?

Are there lessons that can be learned from the way services are delivered elsewhere in Europe?

The NHS must remain free at the point of need. But the way the health service currently operates is simply not sustainable.

Change is urgently needed.

Beware bandits

The spread of “Botox Bandits” is well documented in recent years.

These chancers have little or no ­qualifications but set themselves up in business carrying out cosmetic ­procedures.

Thousands have flocked to ­unlicensed operators for botox injections, hair ­transplants and lip fillers.

But as we report today there can be serious consequences from placing your trust in these fly-by-nights.

More than 900 people have approached consumer watchdog Advice Direct Scotland with complaints.

Two of the victims nearly lost their sight as a result of botched procedures. The message is clear.

Avoid the cosmetic cowboys in search of a bargain – or you could end up paying a very high price.