1/4 of Drug Addicts in Scotland Waited a Year for Assessment April 6, 2009
Posted by inrecovery in : U.K. , trackback
The BBC recently reported that a quarter of all drug addicts in Scotland have waited more than a year for NHS assessment. Additionally, hundreds who have already been approved by the NHS have already waited over a year to receive care. The Scottish government said that more must be done to remedy the problem.
The actual figure breaks down as follows: 554 patients waited more than 52 weeks for an assessment appointment; 318 patients waited between six months and a year for an assessment date; and 210 addicts waited more than a year for treatment to begin, while 109 were more were left waiting between six months and a year.
An independent Scottish group dedicated to overseeing public spending, called Audit Scotland, noted that are more than 50,000 drug addicts in Scotland that has elevated the public spending of the National Health Service to the tune of almost $3.0 billion.
While a Scottish Government spokesman said that their figures indicated improvement from the previous quarter, with an 10% improvement in waiting times for assessment referrals and a 20% improvement on intervention waiting times, the fact still remains that the longer addicts have to wait for services the longer their addictions are fortified.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?