The Western General Hospital played host to Angela Constance, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care, when she visited a cystoscopy outpatient clinic on Tuesday 30 June.
The Health Secretary met clinical and leadership staff who have delivered a significant and sustained improvement in flexible cystoscopy waiting times. The waiting list has reduced from nearly 2,000 patients in May 2025 down to below 500, with the longest waits of >52 weeks dropping from 245 to zero.
She heard how additional Scottish Government investment for scheduled care had enabled increasing capacity beyond core weekday services, plus two additional consultant urologists.
The improvements have reduced the risk of delayed cancer diagnosis, enabled earlier clinical intervention and reduced the likelihood of disease progression.
After the Health Secretary saw the equipment used in cystoscopy and the imaging from a previous procedure, she met a bladder cancer patient, Terry, who had received the all clear at the clinic that morning.
The visit coincided with the release of the latest national waiting times statistics from Public Health Scotland, and journalists were in attendance to interview the Health Secretary – and to capture the success stories at the hospital level and the personal level.
Speaking to STV, Terry enthused about how there had been no delays, and said of his surgery and care: “If you have to have this, this would be the way to do it.”
The visit was led by Chris Stirling, the Site Director, and Iain Gorman, the Service Director for Diagnostics, Anaesthetics, Theatres and Critical Care.
