Introduction
It was a key NHSScotland objective that by December 2011 no more than 18 weeks would elapse from the time a patient is referred by their GP to a consultant led service (for non urgent treatment) to the start of the patient’s treatment (The 18 Week Referral to Treatment Standard). Additionally, the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 now enshrines in law that, once a patient has been diagnosed as requiring inpatient or day case treatment, and agreement has been reached to carry out this treatment, the patient’s treatment must begin within 12 weeks.
Recognising the requirement for continual service redesign to improve the patient experience, this Access Policy sets out the approach we will follow to ensure a safe, effective and person centred approach is applied to services provided to patients.
Effective and timely communication with patients is essential to ensure the best possible use of capacity and resources. We are committed to ensure that appropriate resources, systems and processes are in place to deliver against this Access Policy. Additionally, all staff will be adequately trained to communicate effectively with patients and to use the systems available to ensure access to services is seamless.
