Explanatory Notes

Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011

2011 asp 5

31 March 2011

Commentary on Sections

Section 9: Treatment time guarantee: further provisions

30.Subsections (1) and (2) place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to, by regulations, provide a description of those patients who are eligible for the treatment time guarantee and show how the waiting time is to be calculated, specifying the circumstances in which days are not to be counted towards the maximum waiting time.

31.Subsection (3) gives the Scottish Ministers power to make regulations providing for other matters relating to the treatment time guarantee, including the treatments and services and categories of treatments and services in relation to which the guarantee will not apply.

32.Subsection (4) allows the Scottish Ministers to change the length of the treatment time guarantee by order. For example, this could be to make the maximum waiting time shorter, as services become more efficient. Different periods could be specified for different treatments, for example if some treatments should be delivered within a shorter time.