Friday, August 17, 2007

Too Much Scotch in the Water?

What is it with the Scottish NHS (National Health Service)? As we've recently noted (here and here), the Scots' health care system seems to be (not so) slowly imploding. And as if to further illustrate the point, we have the latest from the land of Glenfiddich:

"CANCER patients are still waiting up to seven months for treatment. Patients are supposed to be treated within 62 days of urgent referral...In the worst cases, sufferers were kept hanging on for 220 days."

To be fair, some 85% of Scottish cancer patients are seen in the recommended "window" of 62 days. However, the two-year old target is 95% of those affected to be seen in that time frame.

One region, Lanarkshire, "had the poorest performance, with just 70.3 per cent of patients being seen within the target time." Ooops.

Our neighbors to the north strive for a 66 day maximum wait.

In fairness, I have not been able to find the relevant numbers for the US. I encourage IB readers to share that information (with links and facts) in the comments section; I'll update this post early next week.
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