Health Secretary praises ‘good progress’ on A&E waits as weekly figures improve

Health Secretary Neil Gray has hailed “good progress” in Scotland’s A&E waiting-time performance as figures showed a slight improvement from the previous week.

Emergency department performance against the four-hour standard stood at 69.9% in the week ending May 18, up from 68.9% the previous week.

Attendances of more than 12 hours stood at 3.2%, down from 3.7% the previous week.

Performance against the four-hour target is now at its highest level since July 2023.

A new standard for measuring waiting-time performance was introduced at the end of December.

The national target is for 95% of patients to wait no longer than four hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer for A&E treatment.

Responding to the figures from Public Health Scotland, Mr Gray said: “Scotland’s core A&E sites have been the best-performing in the UK for a decade and latest weekly A&E performance is continuing to improve.

“This week’s performance is at its best since July 2023 and long waits have also continued to decrease, despite an increase in attendances at A&E.

“This is good progress and we are clearly moving in the right direction – I am grateful to all staff working in emergency care for their outstanding efforts on behalf of patients.

“However, we know some people are still waiting too long for treatment and we are determined to tackle this and drive further improvement.”

He said specialist frailty teams will be in A&E departments by this summer and more hospital at home beds will be available next year.

Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Neil Gray’s comments are utterly tone deaf.

“Thousands of Scots are still waiting far too long in A&E and the SNP are nowhere near hitting their four-hour target.

“Instead of patting himself on the back, he should back our common-sense plans to slash bureaucracy and get resources to the front line where they’re desperately needed.”