Tories hit out at ‘shocking norm’ in A&E waiting time performance

It has become the “shocking norm” that a third of patients wait longer than four hours to be seen at accident and emergency, the Scottish Conservatives have said.

The latest waiting time performance data shows that in the week ending October 15, 66% of A&E patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Meanwhile, 1,046 patients – some 4.1% – spent longer than 12 hours in an emergency department.

Performance against the four-hour target has been largely unchanged for several weeks.

Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the latest figures show A&E departments are in “crisis”.

He said: “Successive SNP health secretaries – including Humza Yousaf – have failed to get a grip of this situation for far too long.

“As we rapidly head towards that period, it is now the shocking norm that a third of patients wait over four hours to be seen at A&E, while over 1,000 patients this week shamefully had to wait over half a day to be seen.

“Michael Matheson should accept that Humza Yousaf’s flimsy NHS recovery plan has failed to remobilise frontline services and rip it up.

“If he wants to get a grip on this crisis, he should match the Scottish Conservatives’ ambition to deliver a modern, efficient and local health service.”

Mr Matheson said: “There is a huge amount of work going on around the country to ensure that A&E waiting times are kept down as much as possible, and we continue to work in a targeted way with boards to support them in this work.

“As part of this we have introduced a delayed discharge and hospital occupancy action plan, which is being implemented at pace, delivering actions we know work to ensure patients receive the right care in the right setting.

“We are also continuing to manage ongoing pressures on acute care by expanding our hospital at home capacity across the country.

“Later today we will publish our winter plan to help ensure the health and care system is prepared ahead of the challenges posed by the coming winter.”