Swinney warned NHS will buckle under winter pressure as A&E waits worsen

First Minister John Swinney is being warned that without urgent action the NHS could “buckle under winter pressure”, as the latest figures showed more than a third of patients in A&E waited longer than the target time.

Health Secretary Neil Gray conceded that the latest weekly data showed that performance against accident and emergency waiting times “is not good enough”.

His comments came as Public Health Scotland figures showed that 63.4% of patients in A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in the week ending September 21.

This was down from 66% the previous week and continues to be well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of A&E patients admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time.

That four-hour target was missed for 10,232 patients in the week ending September 21, the data showed, with 3,502 (12.5% of patients) in A&E for at least eight hours and 1,462 (5.2%) there for a minimum of 12 hours.

The data prompted fresh criticism from opposition parties at Holyrood over the Scottish Government’s failure to tackle long waits in the emergency department.

Scottish Conservative health spokesperson Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “It’s bad enough that the SNP can’t make a serious dent in A&E waiting times, but these appalling stats demonstrate the perma-crisis gripping our NHS is worsening with winter just around the corner.”

He added: “Week after week, thousands of patients are waiting over four hours in A&E on the SNP’s watch. We know these terrifying delays are leading to needless, excess deaths.

“If John Swinney doesn’t take action now, our health service will buckle under winter pressure.”

Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “Nowhere is the SNP’s failure clearer than in the state of Scotland’s NHS.

“It is shocking that thousands of people are still having to face agonising waits in A&E departments across Scotland – with more than 3,000 patients waiting more than eight hours and over 1,000 waiting more than 12 hours to get help.

“These dreadful statistics come just one week on from the RCEM having warned of more than 800 deaths being linked to lengthy A&E waits.”

The Labour MSP insisted: “This is simply not acceptable. Health Secretary Neil Gray must step up to get a grip on this crisis, after years of neglect by SNP ministers.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton meanwhile said that “long waits in A&E are the new normal under the SNP”.

He stated: “It has been years since their targets were last met. With winter fast approaching the Scottish Government needs to take urgent action now to prevent these already long waits spiralling any further.”

Mr Gray stressed that “Scotland’s core A&E departments have consistently outperformed those in England and Wales over the past decade”, adding that the latest monthly figures for July 2025 showed it had “the lowest number of eight and 12-hour waits for any month since September 2023”.

Despite this the Health Secretary said there were “fluctuations in weekly figures”.

But he made clear the “latest weekly performance is not good enough and we are working closely with boards to ensure they have the support they need to cope with peaks in demand”.

Mr Gray said: “Our investment of £200 million will help reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges.

“To help shift the balance of care from acute to community we are delivering direct access to specialist frailty teams and expanding Hospital at Home to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”