Opposition parties urge A&E improvements before winter pressures begin

Opposition parties have urged the Scottish Government to improve accident and emergency waiting times before the NHS’s winter pressures set in.

The latest figures from Public Health Scotland show performance against the four-hour target for emergency departments was at 64% in the week ending November 3, up slightly from the previous week.

The standard is for 95% of patients to be seen and subsequently admitted, discharged or transferred within four hours, but performance has been below 80% since July 2021.

The latest week’s data also showed 1,405 spent more than 12 hours waiting in emergency departments, compared to 1,648 the previous week.

The Health Secretary said NHS 24 would have a record number of call handlers available this winter to ease the strain on A&E departments.

Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Despite winter rapidly approaching, the SNP have completely failed to get a grip on the permanent crisis in our A&E departments.

“The dire workforce planning of successive SNP health secretaries has pushed departments beyond breaking point and left thousands of patients facing deadly delays each week.

“These include increasing ambulance turnaround times, which is putting lives on the line as patients can’t get into our hospitals quickly enough.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “Just yesterday, Scotland’s ambulance chief warned that overcrowding is so bad that patients are being forced to wait not only in corridors but ambulances themselves.

“This logjam means that not only are there thousands of Scots waiting more than 12 hours to get treated, but countless others are forced to wait longer for an ambulance that they desperately need.

“This SNP government must reduce A&E waiting times before winter pressures make the situation even worse.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “Under the SNP the NHS is teetering on the brink, staff are overwhelmed, and thousands are waiting far too long to be seen.

“A&E has been stuck in a state of permanent crisis for multiple years, it’s now practically the norm thanks to SNP mismanagement.

“We need to see the Scottish Government finally take some action before the situation worsens this winter.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “We have the best performing core A&E departments in the UK, and have done for the last eight years.

“However, performance is not of the standard we all expect and we continue to work closely with NHS boards to support a reduction in long waits.

“The sustained pressure services face is not unique to Scotland – with similar challenges being felt across the UK.

“A record number of NHS 24 call handlers will be available this winter to direct people to the most appropriate care, helping reduce unnecessary A&E attendances.

“The Scottish Budget this year provides more than £19.5 billion for health and social care and an extra £500 million for frontline boards.”