A&E waits could see ‘potential catastrophe’ in Scotland this winter

Too many patients are still spending too long in hospital accident and emergency departments, the Health Secretary said, as the latest figures showed more than 6,000 patients waited more than 12 hours for help in October.

While the Scottish Government has set the target of having at least 95% of patients in A&E either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, the figures for October showed this happened only in just over two-thirds (68.3%) of cases.

Of the 128,350 people who attended at A&E over the course of the month, 14,203 (11.3%) were there for eight hours or more.

This includes 6,907 (4.8%) patients who spent at least half a day in A&E, the Public Health Scotland figures showed.

Opposition politicians warned the NHS was facing a “potential catastrophe this winter”, with the Tories branding the decline in performance in October as a “terrifying indicator that worse is still to come”.

Health Secretary Michael Matheson, however, stressed that the latest figures showed the number of patients having “long waits” was 9.4% lower than it was in October 2022.

But he was also clear that the “number of long delays remains too high”, adding that the Scottish Government is working with NHS boards across the country to try to improve performance.

However, Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said with 70% of patients having been seen within the four-hour target time in September there had been a “marked worsening in A&E waiting times” which he insisted was “unacceptable”.

With winter looming the Tory MSP added it was also a “terrifying indicator that worse is still to come for patients and overstretched staff”.

Dr Gulhane said: “It’s appalling that around a third of patients are waiting longer than four hours to be seen and almost one in 20 are waiting more than half a day, because we know that these delays lead to tragic and avoidable deaths.

“Our A&E wards can’t cope with the huge demands placed on them and the buck for that stops with the dire workforce planning of a succession of SNP health secretaries.”

Meanwhile, Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie warned: “Our NHS is headed towards potential catastrophe this winter but the SNP is distracted by its own sleaze.”

She added: “Years of failed workforce planning by the SNP has created thousands of vacancies and let down hardworking NHS staff.

“A&E is stuck in constant state of over-demand, putting lives at risk day in, day out.”

Separate figures for the week ending November 26 showed 24,564 patients attended A&E over the seven says, with 64.3% admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

There was a total of 8,768 (35.7%) patients who spent longer than the target time in the emergency department, including 2,966 (12.1%) who were there for eight hours or more, and 1,237 (5%) who waited a minimum of 12 hours.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Week after week we see long waits in Scotland’s A&E departments, yet week after week the First Minister and the Health Secretary fail to properly focus on tackling this crisis.”

Mr Matheson stated: “I am clear that A&E performance remains below the levels we all wish to see and we continue to work closely with boards to support delivery of sustained improvements.”

The Health Secretary added that while the October figures showed a “slight decrease in national performance” he added that this was “consistent with monthly trends seen in previous years, with England and Wales also seeing a decrease in performance for this period”.

Mr Matheson said: “Monthly performance remains higher than at the same period last year.

“The statistics for the month of October show that long waits are down by 9.4% compared to the same period last year.

“Nevertheless, the number of long delays remains too high and we are working with boards to reduce these instances.”