NHS FORTH VALLY is continuing to deliver improvements in key areas, including two vital services. 

The health board have introduced changes to the design and delivery of their Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) which has seen a reduction in wait times for young people experiencing severe and complex mental ill health.

They've also seen a marked improvement in cancer wait times, with 100 per cent of their patients beginning treatment within 31 days of the decision to treat, exceeding national targets. 

Kerry Mackenzie, NHS Forth Valley Acting Director for Strategic Planning and Performance, said: “Significant progress has been made in reducing cancer and mental health waiting however we recognise that there is still more to do in a number of service areas. These include psychological therapies where, although our performance has improved in recent months, it is still below the national average."

Due to the changes made to NHS Forth Valley CAMHS, the Board has not only met the national waiting times target for the first time earlier this year but has also managed to maintain and improve performance over the last six months.

Waiting time figures for July 2024 showed that 98 per cent of patients referred to CAMHS started treatment within 18 weeks, well above the national average of 83 per cent and exceeding the national waiting times target of 90 per cent.

The service continues to work with partners in local councils to help increase the accessibility to a range of new services, all of which aim to make it quicker and easier for kids and young people to get support.

Performance in relation to the 62-day cancer target is also well above the national Scottish average.

From April to June this year, 83 per cent of local patients waited less than 62 days from the urgent suspicion of cancer referral to their first cancer treatment, compared to an average of 73 per cent across the rest of the country.

They are working to maintain and build on this performance over the coming months.

The number of people waiting for their first outpatient appointment has also reduced by 30 per cent over the last year, from 19,902 in July 2023 to 13,740 in July 2024.

The number of people waiting beyond 12 weeks has also halved in the same period due to an increase in activity - which has continued over the last quarter with more appointments being delivered.

Ms Mackenzie added: “We are also continuing to work closely with colleagues to reduce waiting times for local patients who require more specialist tests and treatments in other regional or national centres out with our area, including the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre in Glasgow.”