‘Grim’ accident and emergency figures show rise in Scots waiting 12 hours or more
The number of Scots spending more than 12 hours in accident and emergency reached its highest for three months, as new figures showed performance against waiting time targets fell.
The latest figures, which cover the week ending August 13, showed that less than two-thirds (65.6%) of those attending at A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time of four hours.
That is down from 66.5% the previous week, and continues to be well below the Scottish Government’s target of having 95% of cases in A&E dealt with within four hours.
The latest weekly figures from Public Health Scotland showed that while 25,897 people attended at A&E, the four-hour target was missed for 8,920 of them.
There were 2,855 patients who were there for eight hours or more, including 1,020 who were there for a minimum of 12 hours – with this reaching the highest point since the week ending May 14.
Overall almost one in 25 patients (3.9%) in A&E were there for half a day, according to the figures.
He added: “There is no shortage of goodwill and dedication on the part of NHS staff, but they don’t have the beds, safe staffing and resources they need.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf “comprehensively failed to get to grips with the crisis in our A&E departments” when he was health secretary, Mr Cole-Hamilton claimed, as he accused the Scottish Government of “not showing the focus needed to address this crisis”.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Sandesh Gulhane said: “It’s appalling that more than a third of patients are waiting over four hours to be seen in Scotland’s emergency departments – and that the situation is getting worse in high summer.
“These figures are a damming indictment of the SNP’s ongoing mismanagement of our NHS, and make the prospect of winter truly terrifying for our A&E wards.”
The Tory MSP, who is also a GP, said: “Despite the best efforts of my hardworking colleagues, patients are continuing to suffer due to the SNP’s dire workforce planning.
“We know the tragic consequences of these excess waits – lives being unnecessarily lost.”
Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie meanwhile said: “The figures clearly show that our A&E crisis continues unabated – with the people of Scotland being put in danger as a result.
She called on Health Secretary Michael Matheson to tackle the problem of delayed discharges, saying this was “crippling the NHS”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are determined to see improvement in emergency department performance and continue to work closely with the health boards facing the greatest challenges in A&E, to drive down waiting times and improve services for patients and staff.”
The spokesperson continued: “Performance is still not where it needs to be and there is continued disparity in performance both between health boards and individual sites.
“Hospital bed occupancy continues to be a major factor impacting on performance which is why we are working to reduce instances of delayed discharge and are continuing to expand our Hospital at Home capacity.”