DOROTHY-GRACE Elder is to be commended on her expose of the scandal and shame in the treatment of chronic pain patients in Scotland (“Revealed: Hidden scandal of chronic pain wait times”, The Herald, March 6). The scandal of how long they wait to be treated and the shame of the Government’s inaction on this issue is outrageous. Ms Elder revealed that only 15.9 per cent of patients are treated within 18 weeks. As someone whose late husband suffered from chronic pain I can assure readers that behind those figures lies a whole world of misery.

The staff at pain clinics are dedicated, hardworking and caring individuals who are fighting an uphill battle; treating not only the pain but everything that comes with it while constantly short-staffed. Chronic pain wears people down, it restricts physical movement, it causes depression. Friends and family stand by feeling inadequate as they see their loved-ones worn down and made old before their time.

Would any Government minister like to stand up in Holyrood and make their speeches or appear at press conferences while in constant pain? Would they even manage that for the magical 18 weeks, let alone any longer? And what is the Government reply to Ms Elder’s expose? “We do not collect chronic pain waiting time information for return appointments” and the waiting time data is “developmental”. Weasel words.

Shame, shame on the Scottish Government. No-one denies that there are competed pressures on health service and the dedicated staff but, shame on the Government for that reply. How about “We apologise to all the pain patients in Scotland for having let you down. We will employ more staff” and “We will make sure the figures are compiled as clearly as possible so we can monitor this properly to ensure patients waiting times come down.”

No-one expects miracles overnight but the common decency of an apology, a recognition that you have done wrong and a promise to put things right, would be the mature response. How sad that we do not have a Government with that decency and maturity. Ms Elder has exposed a national scandal for patients and a government with no shame – what a sad day for us all.

Annie MacAllister,

Angus Oval, Cardonald, Glasgow.

IN 1984, Orwell wrote: “Of pain you could wish only one thing: that it should stop...In the face of pain there are no heroes.” The Herald’s timely and excellent investigation into chronic pain services in Scotland (reveals a system which simply isn’t coping with the scale and the intensity of the problem. For many people living with the consequences, this is their dystopia.

Daily experience of chronic pain has a huge impact on individuals’ physical and mental health. We also know that, along with fatigue, it is the main barrier to employment for people with arthritis. Indeed, in a forthcoming Arthritis Care Scotland report, more than two-thirds of people living with arthritis tell us that pain impacts on their ability to work.

For improvement to happen in this area, we can’t afford to window-dress the issues. We need honesty about the real waiting times figures but we also need to acknowledge that the solutions will mostly be found and funded locally. While the Glasgow-based national treatment centre for patients with chronic pain is a vital service, the vast majority of people need access to other more local support. In this, the role of the new health and social care integration authorities is critical and there is an urgent need to engage these bodies in the debate.

Angela Donaldson-Bruce,

Director, Arthritis Care Scotland,

Edward House, 283 West Campbell Street, Glasgow.

YOUR revelation of the thousands of chronic pain patients who are left languishing on the waiting list and suffering, hugely shames Scotland. Concerningly the facilities for pain patients are being reduced, not increased, at the precise time that patient numbers are increasing.The patients mentioned due to your good journalism currently attend conventional pain services in Scotland. More patients however are being directed to these already overburdened services through the short-sighted decision to close all the remaining in-patient facilities at the NHS Centre for Integrative Care (CIC) in Glasgow which uses a wide range of complementary methods, often in combination with other conventional treatments. Until now, the CIC has treated patients holistically who have a wide range of issues, including many patients who suffer with chronic pain, from many parts of Scotland. The CIC can no longer provide its many services as effectively due to the controversial decision of Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board's determination to close all its beds and the Scottish Health Secretary refusing to intervene.

I now hope that there will be an urgent rethink before all these much-needed beds and this unique complex care pathway at this valuable, award-winning and innovative cost-effective service are removed at the end of March, and their dedicated and highly specialist staff will then be redeployed elsewhere. I hope those officials prejudiced against complementary treatment methods are ashamed of themselves. Patients can testify that the many methods delivered at the CIC work effectively for them. Not treating thousands on time certainly does not work.

Catherine Hughes,

1058 Great Western Road, Glasgow.