MORE than £5 million is being spent by NHS Lothian in a bid to axe controversial "hidden" waiting lists.
The extra money will pay for more consultants and allow the NHS to buy surgery sessions in private hospitals, such as Murrayfield. A mobile operating theatre will also visit St John's Hospital in Livingston.
New figures show around 4600 Lothian p
atients waiting for treatment have been switched from main waiting lists to the "availability status code" (ASC) list, often because they turned down operation dates.
This means they no longer have the Scottish Government guarantee of being treated within 18 weeks, and are "hidden" from official statistics. The controversial system is due to be scrapped by the end of the year.
The number of Lothian patients on the ASC list grew over the summer, despite a huge fall across the rest of the country. In July, official figures put the total at 5359, although internal monitoring suggests this has fallen to 4600. Around 1000 patients on the list are waiting for plastic surgery, such as breast reduction or tattoo removal.
Health chiefs have acknowledged "the need for the pace of improvement to be quickened".
Hundreds of patients are now being reassessed, and if treatment is no longer necessary they are removed from the waiting list, or given a fresh 18-week guarantee.
Andy Jackson, associate director of strategic planning with NHS Lothian, said: "Much of this funding that was allocated at the start of the year will be used for increased activity.
"It means either enhancing our own existing services, using NHS services at the Golden Jubilee Hospital (in Clydebank) or using the private sector. For example, two locum consultants have been appointed in ophthalmology (eye surgery) to carry out more cataract operations.
"We have also appointed a new maxillofacial (head, neck, face and jaw) surgeon at St John's Hospital, and additional surgeons have been appointed at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
"Next week, a mobile operating theatre from [healthcare firm] Vanguard will be arriving at St John's Hospital to treat ear, nose and throat patients and those needing plastic surgery.
"There will also be additional weekend surgical lists and the use of locum consultants to take over general work, thus allowing specialist surgeons to carry out more complex procedures."
NHS Lothian's efforts to reduce the ASC list have been hampered by a lack of theatre capacity in some specialities, such as cardiac and orthopaedic surgery, as well as problems gaining access to facilities at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital.
The former private hospital is used by all NHS boards in Scotland to bring down waiting times. Around half of patients with ASC codes have refused an appointment for personal reasons, while it would be clinically inappropriate to proceed in around a fifth of cases - for example, if a patient needs to lose weight first.
Others need highly-specialised treatment or are deemed by doctors to be of "low clinical priority", such as cases involving tattoo removal.
Once the ASC system is abolished, patients who need treatment in a hospital bed - or at an out-patient clinic - will be offered more than one choice of dates designed to suit their work or family commitments. But patients who fail to turn up for hospital and clinic appointments without explanation will have to return to their GP for another referral, unless it is "clinically inappropriate" to do so.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Availability status codes are unfair to patients and that is why we are determined they will be abolished by the end of the year and replaced by a system that is transparent and fairer."
