A DEBT-RIDDEN health board has presided over a 60 per cent surge in patients not being seen within the twelve week treatment time guarantee.

Over 5,700 patients in NHS Tayside, which has received over £30 million from the Scottish Government in loans, waited longer than the statutory period backed by MSPs.

Scottish Tory MSP Miles Briggs criticised the figures and called on the Government to take "meaningful action.”

NHS Tayside serves nearly 400,000 people and covers Health Secretary Shona Robison’s home patch in Dundee.

However, the board has endured severe financial problems and board officials told a Holyrood committee in December that £214m of savings had to be made over five years.

The ailing organisation has only been able to break even in recent years thanks to a series of bailouts - described formally as “brokerage” loans - from the Government.

An independent advisory group recently concluded that NHS Tayside is unlikely to achieve financial balance within the period of its five year “transformation programme.”

MSPs have blasted the board and raised fears about the effect of cuts on patients.

According to a minute of a recent NHS Tayside board meeting, the annual accounts will contain a “disclosure” on waiting times.

It will say that 3,522 patients were seen outwith the twelve week period in 2015/16, but reveal that the figure jumped to 5,733 last year.

Board papers also show that, at the end of June this year, 1668 patients were waiting over 12 weeks for treatment, compared to 1560 at the end of May 2017.

From October 2012, the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011 established a 12 week maximum waiting time for the treatment of all eligible patients on an inpatient or day case basis.

The number of outpatients waiting over 16 weeks at the end of June was 2608, up 189 compared to the end of May this year.

In February, NHS chief executive Paul Gray warned MSPs that treatment times could suffer.

He said: “One of the contingencies a board can deploy would be to slow down the rate of treating people in some areas.”

At the time, Labour MSP Jenny Marra replied: “Does that mean longer waiting lists?”

Gray said: "Yes, let's not beat about the bush, of course it would.

"It would mean that somebody who might have been treated at the end of March might not be treated until April."

Briggs said: “Waiting times right across Scotland are far from good enough, but it’s embarrassing for the health secretary that they’re particularly appalling in her own back yard."

Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar said: “Not only has Shona Robison let patients and staff across the country down – she has let her own constituents down as well. NHS Tayside is desperate for funding, but even in her own city of Dundee it seems Shona Robison won’t budge.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “NHS Tayside makes every effort to meet national waiting times standards, however this is unfortunately not currently possible across all patient pathways due to a number of factors including a national shortage of consultants in some surgical specialties.

“Waiting times are reviewed on a regular basis across all services with a focus on identifying opportunities to improve performance and work towards a position where patients are seen and treated within the relevant standard.”