Waiting times highlighted by a national charity for people in East Renfrewshire to receive a key heart scan have been described as “alarming” by a local MSP.
Eastwood MSP, Jackson Carlaw recently met with staff from the British Heart Foundation and waiting times for people to receive an echocardiogram test was raised with him as a key issue of concern.
An echocardiogram is a scan used to examine the heart and surrounding blood vessels.
It is a vital test to identify many types of heart disease including heart failure and the target time for patients to undergo the scan is 6 weeks.
The most recent data provided by the British Heart Foundation showed that in East Renfrewshire’s health board area of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 5,338 patients were waiting to receive an echocardiogram in June 2023.
A total of 76.9 percent of patients had experienced a wait of more than six weeks for the heart scan.
Within the region, 441 people had been waiting for more than twelve months without receiving an echocardiogram.
Across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, approximately 157,000 individuals are living with heart and circulatory diseases.
Scottish Conservative MSP for Eastwood, Jackson Carlaw said:
“Waiting time targets for large numbers of patients across a range of key healthcare services are consistently not being met and far too many people are having to experience lengthy delays before receiving the required medical support.
“The data highlighted by the British Heart Foundation is deeply alarming and the difficulties that thousands of individuals have been forced to endure with securing access to heart scans in a timely manner needs to be addressed.
“People in Eastwood who require an echocardiogram should not be faced with a potentially excessive wait for this key diagnostic test and the Scottish Government must review what actions can be taken to reduce unacceptable delays for patients.”
