THE number of people waiting to be admitted into hospitals in the Lothians for treatment has been slashed by a quarter.
By the end of December, the list had dropped to 9633, the first time it had been below five figures in more than a decade.
NHS Lothian is also continuing to hit targets ensuring that no-one is waiting more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment
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Health chiefs attributed the fall to improved waiting times – they recently revealed they are hitting all diagnostic targets for hospital care.
However, patient representatives warned against a speedy service taking priority over the best treatment of patients.
Dr Jean Turner, chief executive of the Scottish Patients Association, said: "On the face of it this appears to be good news, but only if patients' outcomes are also better. Speaking to patients I get the impression that things are being done more quickly. Being seen quickly is good but the quality of the outcome is also important.
"There could be lots of reasons why the waiting list is shorter. It could be that people are finding they have to come back time and again."
Figures released last month showed NHS Lothian performing well across the board in relation to waiting times. No patients were waiting more than nine weeks for key diagnostic tests, including upper endoscopy, lower endoscopy, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, CT scans and MRI scans.
At the start of January, 96.6 per cent of cancer patients were seen within 62 days.
Unison, the public sector union, praised the work of hospital staff.
Mick McGahey, Unison branch secretary for the Lothian University Hospitals Division, said: "The reality is there has been a lot of input on waiting times from the Scottish Government.
"For staff it is about good patient care.
"If you are sitting at home waiting on an appointment, 20 weeks or 28 weeks is not good enough.
"For clinicians, the earlier they see a patient the better the outcomes."
Jackie Sansbury, director of planning at NHS Lothian, said: "I'd like to thank our staff for their hard work in delivering swift treatment for the people of Lothian and beyond."
At the end of September, nearly 11,000 people had been waiting longer than 18 weeks for outpatient treatment, but by December 31, this figure had dropped to zero for those cases covered by waiting time guarantees.
The total number of people on waiting lists for a new outpatient appointment was 204,659 at the end of the year, down by 34,000 on September.
The number waiting longer than 18 weeks for inpatient treatment was also zero by the end of December.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "This is a tremendous achievement by NHS Scotland."
The full article contains 463 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
