Neil Gray ‘encouraged’ by A&E stats as longest wait figures fall in July

Health Secretary Neil Gray said he is “encouraged” that the number of patients experiencing the longest waits in A&E has fallen to the lowest level for almost two years.

Official data for the month of July showed that the number of patients undergoing waits of more than eight hours and more than 12 hours was the lowest it had been since September 2023.

Over the course of the month, 71.1% of of the 140,820 patients who went to accident and emergency were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the four-hour target time.

However with performance continuing to be well below the Scottish Government target, of having 95% of patients in A&E admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, Mr Gray said he is “determined to drive improvements”.

He spoke out as figures showed that the four-hour waiting time target was missed for 40,634 patients over the month of July.

There were also 12,531 patients who spent eight hours or more in the emergency room – including 5,004 who were there for a minimum of 12 hours.

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “After nearly two decades of SNP mismanagement, our NHS is in permanent crisis mode, with over 40,000 Scots waiting more than four hours to be seen in A&E in July.”

The Tory MSP continued: “These atrocious statistics are the worst July waiting times since the SNP came to power.

“Their incompetence means that, even in the height of summer, we’re seeing avoidable deaths in emergency departments, and families grieving loved ones lost far too soon.”

Branding the situation a “national emergency”, Dr Gulhane added: “Winter is just round the corner, and unless urgent action is taken, our health service will collapse.”

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie was also critical of the government, saying: “Dangerously long waits in A&E are putting lives at risk but the SNP has failed to make any meaningful progress.

“Patients and staff alike are being failed day in, day out by the SNP’s mismanagement of our NHS.”

However, Mr Gray noted that attendances in July were the highest for that month for the past six years.

And the Health Secretary stated: “I am encouraged to see an improvement in monthly A&E performance, with figures showing the lowest number of eight and 12 hour waits for any month since September 2023.”

Separate weekly figures for the week ending August 24 showed that of the 24,482 Scots who went to A&E, two thirds (66%) were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – with this up from 63.6% the previous week.

The four-hour target was missed for 9,692 patients over the course of the week, with 2,929 patients waiting eight hours or more and 1,116 there for half a day or longer.

Mr Gray stressed: “Our core A&E departments have consistently outperformed those in England and Wales over the past decade.

“We know A&E performance is below the levels we all wish to see and we are determined to drive improvements – we remain in close contact with all health boards to ensure they have the support they need to cope with peaks in demand.

“We are investing £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

“We will provide direct access to specialist frailty teams in every A&E and expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.

“These measures will help us shift the focus of care from acute to community.”