THE number of patients waiting months for a hospital appointment in Scotland has risen sharply - with more than 40,000 queuing too long at the last count.
New figures show the percentage of patients referred to hospital by their GP who are seen within 12 weeks has dropped to 86%, down from 93% a year ago.
The fall continues a slump in performance against this target which the NHS was largely meeting until the winter of 2013-14.
At the end of September, the data shows 40 732 people had been waiting longer than 12 weeks for a new hospital consultation.
Thousand of patients are also continuing to miss out on the Scottish Government's promise of treatment within three months - even though it is enshrined in law.
During the summer, the proportion of people treated within three months of agreeing the procedure required fell to 94.6%. More than 4000 people missed out on the legally binding treatment time guarantee.
Dr Richard Simpson, Scottish Labour’s shadow health minister, said: “The SNP Government can take no comfort from the statistics released today as their overall performance is going backwards."
He added that what used to be a "winter crisis" in Scotland's hospitals was now continuing through-out the year. “The SNP Government’s sticking plaster approach to our NHS just isn’t good enough," he said. "We need investment in the long-term to make the NHS fit for the 2040s, not the 1940s.”
The Scottish Government said more than 927,000 patients had been treated within the 12 weeks treatment time guarantee, since the law was introduced in October 2012. They said most of the patients missing out were from six health board areas: NHS Lothian, Highland, Grampian, Tayside, Ayrshire and Arran and Lanarkshire.
Shona Robison, health secretary, said: “Our ageing population in Scotland means that our NHS is facing different challenges to a decade ago and it is vital that we support health boards as they continue to adapt to meet these new demands.
“This is why we are investing in targeted support where it is needed most. To address this increase in demand we recently announced plans for a £200m investment to create six new elective centres to carry out procedures such as hip and knee replacements and cataract operations.
"Our recent funding of £1.5 million to the Golden Jubilee will also enable the hospital to deliver an extra 1550 operations each year, as well as recruit additional clinical staff and allow for weekend surgeries.
“This will help free up capacity at other health boards and mean that patients from across Scotland get faster treatment."
Expert support has also been offered to health boards struggling to meet the different treatment targets.
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