Waiting times for key treatments such as physiotherapy and podiatry in Dumfries and Galloway are “not good enough”, according to South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth.

The local MSP made his comments after a new report from the Scottish Government’s Information Services Division (ISD) published on 20 March revealed that over 40% of patients in the region waiting for such treatment had to wait beyond the 4-week target.

The Government target for musculoskeletal waiting times is that 90 per cent of patients referred for a clinical out-patient appointment should have their first appointment within four weeks.  

These include treatments such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropody, podiatry and orthotics.

The latest available figures show that of the 2 463 patients seen in Dumfries and Galloway in the last quarter of 2017, 1,031 waited longer than four weeks.

South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said “These figures once again show the scale of the SNP Government’s mismanagement of our NHS. Over a thousand patients in Dumfries and Galloway having to wait beyond four weeks for key treatments like physiotherapy is just not good enough. Waiting so long for such important treatment like physiotherapy can set back recovery for patients or even make their condition work. That in turn can add more pressure to the NHS if the patient ends up in at Accident and Emergency or in a hospital ward. If the SNP Government are going to set timescales for treatment, then they need to start to properly resource our NHS staff to deliver them and frankly they are failing to do that”.