Tories call for action from Scottish Government over A&E ward ‘crisis’

Ministers have been warned of the “crisis” in Scotland’s emergency departments – despite figures showing a slight improvement in waiting times performance.

The latest data, which covers the week ending Sunday December 3, show of the 23,646 people who attended at accident and emergency, 65.1% were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the Scottish Government’s four-hour, target time.

That is up from the 64.3% performance the previous week – but is still well below the target of having 95% of patients in A&E dealt with inside four hours.

Figures from Public Health Scotland showed that this target was missed for 8,260 patients in the week ending December 3.

That includes the 2,795 patients who spent more than eight hours in A&E, and the 1,233 who were there for 12 hours or more.

As the figures were published, Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane warned: “As we head further into the winter peak, these waiting times remain miles off where they should be.”

Dr Gulhane, who is a GP as well as a Tory MSP, added that “Scotland’s A&E wards are in crisis” claiming that Health Secretary Michael Matheson “is unable to get a grip” on the situation.

The Conservative said: “It is completely unacceptable that more than a third of patients are languishing in A&E departments for longer than four hours, with nearly 3,000 people waiting over eight hours and over 1,000 waiting half a day to be seen.

“We know all too well these delays lead to tragic and avoidable deaths.

“Despite the best efforts from my dedicated frontline colleagues, our emergency wards are at breaking point which is a direct consequence of dire workforce planning from successive SNP health secretaries.”

The latest weekly data showed performance against the four-hour target varied from 45.7% in the NHS Forth Valley area to 98% in NHS Western Isles.