From December 2007 new waiting time standards were introduced for patients needing cardiac procedures. These standards improved upon the historic ones that set a maximum waiting time for angiography of 8 weeks and for revascularisation of 18 weeks. "By the end of 2007, no patient will wait more than 16 weeks from GP referral through a rapid access chest pain clinic or equivalent, to cardiac intervention." (Fair To All, Personal To Each, Scottish Government 2004)

The new standards go beyond the previous ones in that they cover all procedures and cover patient journeys. Cardiac patients should wait no longer than 16 weeks from referral by a General Practitioner through a Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic (RACPC) to treatment. Patients referred for interventions via other routes should wait no longer than 16 weeks from specialist decision to treat to receiving that treatment.

At present, NHS Scotland lacks systems on a national basis to capture total patient journey information. A pragmatic interim solution has been to measure progress towards these targets by measuring and reporting the component parts of the journey. Local audits will assess the administrative processes between the different parts of the journey with the aim of minimising the gaps.

The assessment part of the journey - patients seen at a RACPC following referral by a GP.
The investigation part of the journey - patients waiting for an angiography.
The intervention part of the journey - patients waiting for treatment of a diagnosed cardiac disease.

Whilst the overall target covers all Scottish NHS boards, these cardiac services are delivered on a regional basis and the different regions are taking slightly varying approaches to achieving the maximum of 16 weeks from GP to intervention via RACPC. The north and west regional services are aiming to achieve the 16 weeks by ensuring patients wait no longer than 2 weeks for RACPC assessment, 4 weeks for angiography and 10 weeks for intervention, whilst the east region (NHS Lothian, NHS Borders, NHS Fife and NHS Forth Valley) is planning 1, 5 and 10 week maximums respectively for the components of this journey. The tables below summarise performance in Scotland compared to these regional plans.

Waiting times are adjusted to deduct periods where the patient is unavailable (e.g. for medical or social reasons). Patients who cancel or don't attend an appointment have their waiting times clock reset to zero. Further information .

CARDIAC PATIENT JOURNEY: WAITING TIME FOR RAPID ACCESS CHEST PAIN CLINICS
COMPLETED WAITS FOR PATIENTS SEEN

These statistics will not be published at this time as they require some further work in order to improve their reliability. More information on data quality issues is available.

CARDIAC PATIENT JOURNEY:  WAITING TIME FOR ANGIOGRAPHY
ONGOING WAITS FOR PATIENTS ON WAITING LIST

		Census date
Indicator		31-Mar-08		30-Jun-08		31-Jul-08		31-Aug-08		30-Sep-08
Number on list		511		419		369		456		475
Of which: Number waiting over local target		8		1		3		10		18

Source: Waiting Times Data Warehouse

_{Boards report that according to local systems there were 5 patients at 31st March, no patients as at 30th June, 6 patients as at 31st August and 2 patients as at 30th September waiting over the local target for angiography.}

Comparable information by NHS board of treatment is available at the bottom of the page.

CARDIAC PATIENT JOURNEY: WAITING TIME FOR REVASCULARISATION
ONGOING WAITS FOR PATIENTS ON WAITING LIST

		Census date
Indicator		31-Mar-08		30-Jun-08		31-Jul-08		31-Aug-08		30-Sep-08
Number on list		405		501		520		505		559
Of which: Number waiting over 10 weeks		1		0		1		1		7

Source: Waiting Times Data Warehouse

_{Boards report that according to local systems there were no patients at 31st March and 4 patients at 30th September waiting over 10 weeks for revascularisation.}

Comparable information by NHS board of treatment is available at the bottom of the page.

CARDIAC PATIENT JOURNEY: WAITING TIME FOR VALVE SURGERY
ONGOING WAITS FOR PATIENTS ON WAITING LIST

		Census date
Indicator		31-Mar-08		30-Jun-08		31-Jul-08		31-Aug-08		30-Sep-08
Number on list		103		139		150		153		170
Of which: Number waiting over 10 weeks		0		0		0		1		1

Source: Waiting Times Data Warehouse

Comparable information by NHS board of treatment is available at the bottom of the page.

CARDIAC PATIENT JOURNEY: WAITING TIME FOR 'OTHER CARDIAC' TREATMENT
ONGOING WAITS FOR PATIENTS ON WAITING LIST

		Census date
Indicator		31-Mar-08		30-Jun-08		31-Jul-08		31-Aug-08		30-Sep-08
Number on list		698		671		697		705		714
Of which: Number waiting over 16 weeks		2		0		1		0		3

Source: Waiting Times Data Warehouse

_{Boards report that according to local systems there were no patients waiting over 16 weeks for 'other cardiac' treatment as at at 31st March and 31st July.}

Comparable information by NHS board of treatment is available below:

•  Cardiac patient journey. Information for NHSScotland and NHS board of treatment (31 Mar 2008, 30 Jun 2008, 31 Jul 2008, 31 Aug 2008, 30 Sep 2008)

With the exception of the Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic targets, the Scottish Goverment assess whether targets have been met by looking at the waiting times of patients waiting at the end of the month. These patients have not yet been seen, and their eventual completed wait may be longer than the target time even if their waiting time at the month-end was not. Equivalent information on completed waiting times is available on request from ISD.