Dear Ed

Request for assessment of Waiting Times Statistics in Scotland

I have been talking to your team in the Office for Statistics Regulation regarding the inclusion of Public Health Scotland’s waiting times statistics in your upcoming work programme.

Our monthly A&E waiting times statistics and quarterly Inpatient, Day Case and Outpatient waiting times statistics are currently designated as “National Statistics” and I would welcome a compliance check on both releases given the continued high profile of these statistics.

Additionally, our weekly A&E statistics are currently designated “Official Statistics”. In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Statistics and Registration Act 2007, I would welcome a full assessment of these statistics given the continued high profile of this weekly series. We are currently transforming the format of our weekly reporting (including greater use of dashboards) and this will be a good opportunity for Public Health Scotland to receive feedback from OSR on this approach to releasing our statistics.

I’d be grateful if you could consider these requests. I’m copying this letter to David Baird, who leads our statistical governance team. David is ready to pick up next steps with the OSR team.

Yours sincerely

Scott Heald

Related links

Ed Humpherson to Scott Heald: Request for Assessment of Waiting Times Statistics in Scotland (02 February 2023)