Scottish Government continues to come under fire over A&E waiting times

Scotland’s health service could be on “the brink of collapse this winter”, Tories claimed as new figures showed a key waiting times target was missed for more than a third of patients in A&E.

New figures showed that of the 25,416 people who went to accident and emergency in the week ending October 19, 64% were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Performance was up from the previous week – when the target was only met for 61.8% of patients – but continues to be well below the Scottish Government target of having 95% of patients in A&E admitted, transferred or discharged in this timescale.

The latest figures, from Public Health Scotland, showed 9,154 spent more than four hours in A&E over the course of the week.

Meanwhile, 3,137 (12.3%) patients were there for eight hours or more, while 1,347 (5.3%) patients spent half a day or more in the emergency department.

The number of patients having long waits was down from the previous week, with Health Secretary Neil Gray saying there had been “a 16% decrease in the longest A&E waits”.

But Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane complained that “week after week, thousands of patients are left languishing in our A&E departments due to the incompetence of the SNP”.

Hitting out at the Scottish Government, the Tory said: “These shocking figures confirm that under the SNP our NHS is totally unprepared for the winter months ahead.”

While he said frontline staff “are working tirelessly for patients”, he accused Mr Gray of being “asleep at the wheel despite the health service being on the brink of collapse this winter”.

Dr Gulhane said the Health Secretary must now “urgently outline how staff and patients will be supported in the coming months before they face the potentially devastating consequences”.

Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie meanwhile said the Health Secretary “appears completely lost at sea” and has “no clue about how to meaningfully cut waiting times”.

The Labour MSP said “It is shocking that thousands of Scots are still enduring agonising waits in A&E, despite empty SNP promises to tackle the issue.

“Health Secretary Neil Gray is a man who appears completely lost at sea, with no clue about how to meaningfully cut waiting times.

“Our NHS urgently needs a change in direction and a change in government. John Swinney and the SNP have no meaningful plan, no strategy, and no ideas to save our NHS.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton was also critical of the Scottish Government, saying: “For years now under this SNP government A&E departments have been stuck in a state of permacrisis.

“It is only October, we have not even begun to see the worst winter pressures, and we are still seeing thousands waiting far too long each and every week.”

Ministers must now “start taking serious action to support the staff facing these pressure cooker conditions”, Mr Cole-Hamilton said.

Mr Gray however stressed there had been an “improved performance” in the latest A&E waiting times.

And he said the Scottish Government is “working closely with all boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand”.

The Health Secretary added: “Boards are reporting higher levels of hospital occupancy which is impacting on patient flow and leading to delays.

“This is not unique to Scotland with all UK nations experiencing similar pressures. Despite this, Scotland’s core A&E departments have consistently outperformed those in England and Wales over the past decade.”

Mr Gray continued: “Our investment of more than £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges is working.

“To help shift the focus of care from acute to community, we will provide direct access to specialist frailty teams in every A&E and expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”