A&E waiting times hit a new low

Waiting times at Scotland’s emergency departments have hit a new record low, recent figures have shown.

According to Public Health Scotland, 63.5% of attendances at A&E in Scotland in the week up to September 11 were seen within four hours.

A Scottish Government target aims to ensure 95% of people are seen and subsequently admitted or discharged within four hours.

The figure dropped drastically from 67.7% the previous week, and was worse than the previous low of 64.8%.

Of the 27,097 attendances during that week, a record number of people waited more than four hours at 9,895.

Meanwhile, the number of people waiting more than eight hours was 3,367 – a new high – while 1,257 people waited longer than 12 hours.