South Scotland Labour MSP has warned that patients are being left in pain as a result of waiting times for key treatments like physiotherapy and podiatry in the Borders being missed.

The local MSP has made the claim after a new report for the Scottish Government’s Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland published on 18 June revealed that 49.3% patients across the region receiving such treatment had to wait beyond the 4-week target.

The Scottish 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 treatment such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, chiropody, podiatry and orthotics.

The latest figures from ISD Scotland show that 1,790 patients were seen in the first quarter of 2019, with 908 of those patients waiting longer than the four-week target.

Colin Smyth MSP said, “Once again these figures show the scale of the SNP Government’s mismanagement of our NHS. Year on year we see patients waiting longer and longer for key treatments which means more patients suffering for longer. 49.3% of patients in the Borders having to wait longer than four weeks for treatments such as physiotherapy is just not good enough.

Waiting so long for such important treatment can set recovery back for patients or even make their condition worse. In turn, that can add more pressure to the NHS if the patients end up at Accident and Emergency or in a hospital ward. If the SNP Government are going to set timescales for treatment they need to start properly resourcing our NHS as the waiting times are getting worse, not better.”