Following a Freedom of Information request, it has been revealed that patients in the Borders face an average wait of 94 weeks for a hearing aid - the second longest wait in Scotland. John Lamont, Scottish Conservative Candidate for Roxburgh and Berwickshire was given exclusive access to the figures ahead of their publication this week.
John said "This figures reveal a huge gulf between the target 18 week waiting time and the 94 weeks that the average Borders patient must wait for a hearing aid. These figures are an absolute disgrace and demonstrate that a postcode lottery is in place across Scotland."
"How can it be that a patient living in Lanarkshire only has to wait 19 weeks for a hearing aid and yet in the Borders we must wait more than 4 times as long? Is this yet another example of Central Belt bias by this LibDem-Labour Executive?"
“These averages are bad enough, but because they are averages, by definition some people will be waiting even longer. The Lib-Lab Pact wants to measure how well our NHS is doing by the amount of money being spent. The real test is how well patients are being treated. People pay their taxes for a first-class health service, and considering the Lib-Lab Pact has recently revealed spending on the NHS will reach the £10billion mark next year, the service they are getting isn’t good enough."
John added “Impaired hearing can create enormous problems with a person's life - relationships, work, and even to their personal safety. It is simply unacceptable that waiting times should be so long."
“In this centrally driven top-down NHS, because hearing aids are not a priority for Ministers, they are not treated as such at local level. Our health service should be led by patient need, not political priority, and that is what the Scottish Conservatives will deliver.”