Health Secretary Michael Matheson under fire again over A&E waiting times

Health Secretary Michael Matheson is “making no noticeable difference” to the “utterly unacceptable” waiting times in Scotland’s accident-and-emergency departments, the Tories have claimed.

The Conservatives hit out in the wake of the latest weekly figures, which showed the target of having A&E patients dealt with within four hours was missed in some three out of 10 cases.

A total of 24,835 patients sought help at accident and emergency in the week ending July 16, with 69.6% of them seen and either admitted, treated or discharged within four hours.

There were 7,539 patients who waited longer than this – including 1,973 (7.9%) who spent eight hours or more in A&E.

Meanwhile, a total of 663 (2.7%) patients were in A&E for 12 hours or more, Public Health Scotland’s figures showed.

The latest figures show the Scottish Government’s target of having 95% of A&E patients seen and then subsequently admitted, treated or discharged within four hours continues to be missed.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “It now seems tragically inevitable that regardless of the time of year, around one-third of patients will have to wait more than four hours to be seen in Scotland’s overwhelmed A&E departments.”

The Tory MSP, who is also a GP, said: “Despite the best effort of dedicated NHS staff, emergency wait times have stagnated on the SNP’s watch – and lives are being needlessly lost as a result.

“Even now, at the peak of summer, ministers are miles off meeting their own waiting-time targets.

“This is utterly unacceptable, but the sad truth is that suffering patients are still bearing the brunt of Humza Yousaf’s failures as SNP health secretary.

“His successor Michael Matheson is making no noticeable difference either. He must rip up the First Minister’s flimsy NHS recovery plan and instead follow the Scottish Conservatives’ vision for a modern, efficient and local health service.”

Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie also hit out at Mr Matheson as she demanded government action to tackle the “persistent chaos” in hospital A&E departments.

She added: “Every single week we see the same disappointing figures with thousands of patients waiting hours on end in emergency departments for treatment.

“Services are under increasing pressure and staff are working tirelessly trying to provide the care patients need, but Health Secretary Michael Matheson is simply not addressing the challenges they face.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Performance against the four-hour target has stabilised.

“Nevertheless, we know that performance is not where it needs to be and we 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.

“Hospital bed occupancy continues to be a major factor impacting on performance. Addressing delayed discharge remains of critical importance across our NHS and we continue to work to reduce these instances.

“We are continuing to manage ongoing pressures on acute care by expanding our Hospital at Home capacity across the country. Continued development of pathways remains a key focus as we look to bolster capacity ahead of winter 23/24.”