Scottish Government under fire over latest A&E waiting times

Health Secretary Neil Gray came under fire as the latest weekly figures showed a key waiting times target for treatment in A&E was missed for almost a third of patients.

Official data revealed that in the week ending June 15, 66.8% of patients in accident and emergency were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

That is down from the previous week’s total of 67.2%, with the most recent figures showing 9,133 patients spent longer than four hours in the emergency department.

Public Health Scotland figures also showed 3,076 patients – 11% of cases dealt with in A&E that week – were there for a minimum of eight hours.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman said Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “It may be summer — but our NHS is still under winter-level pressure, because of years of SNP incompetence.”

Dr Gulhane said both Mr Gray and First Minister John Swinney “should be ashamed that a third of patients are waiting more than four hours to be seen at A&E”.

The Tory, who is a GP as well as an MSP, added: “We know these lengthy delays lead to tragic, avoidable deaths.”

He continued: “The strain on our health service should be easing, but due to the failings of successive SNP health secretaries, it is, in the words of BMA Scotland, ‘dying before our eyes’.

Dr Gulhane insisted: “Neil Gray can’t keep ignoring this crisis and hoping it goes away.

“He needs to adopt our common-sense plans to slash NHS red tape, cut middle managers and guarantee resources will get to the frontline.”

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie was also critical of ministers, saying that “this failing SNP government has still not managed to get a grip on A&E waiting times, with thousands of Scots still waiting far too long to get help”.

She said it had been almost five years since the government last met the target of having 95% of A&E patients either admitted, transferred or discharged within fours – with the Labour MSP insisting the situation was “simply nowhere near good enough”.

Mr Gray accepted that some patients are “waiting too long for treatment” as he insisted the Scottish Government is “determined to drive improvements”.

While the Health Secretary stressed that “Scotland’s core A&E sites have been the best performing in the UK for a decade”, he added that emergency departments are “facing sustained pressure with high levels of hospital occupancy impacting patient flow and causing delays”.

Mr Gray added: “This situation is not unique to Scotland with all UK nations experiencing similar pressures.

“However, we know some people are still waiting too long for treatment and we are determined to drive improvements.

“We are investing £200 million to cut waiting times, boost capacity and improve the flow of patients through hospital.

“We want to shift the balance of care from acute to community and to do this we will deliver direct access to specialist frailty teams in every emergency department by summer 2025 and expand Hospital at Home to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”