NHS already ‘in meltdown’ ahead of winter, Tories say

The Scottish Government has been warned the NHS is already “in meltdown” ahead of winter.

The Scottish Tories said figures released by Public Health Scotland were “grim”.

They show that 62.9% (17,012) of people attending emergency departments in the week ending November 2 were seen within the four-hour target, an improvement from the 61.4% figure (16,581 people) recorded the week before.

Some 14.9% (4,017 people) waited more than eight hours in the latest week, down from 16% (4,310) the week before.

Meanwhile, 6.6% (1,776) people waited more than 12 hours, down from 7.5% (1,490 people) the week prior.

While the figures are an improvement week-on-week they are much higher than most previous years.

In 2015, the worst weekly November figure for the four-hour target stood at 93.7% and since 2022 has been around 62%.

Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “These latest grim figures confirm Scotland’s NHS is in meltdown already ahead of the hard winter period.

“Week after week, thousands of patients are being left stranded in A&E department because a string of incompetent SNP health secretaries have failed to tackle this crisis.

“Frontline staff are working tirelessly for patients but have been left to deal with complete chaos in our hospital corridors due to dire workforce planning and Humza Yousaf’s flimsy recovery plan.

“Only this week we’ve seen horror stories of pensioners having to wait over 12 hours in A&E and left to lie on a camping bed – yet Neil Gray is nowhere to be seen.
 
“His belated announcement later this week as to how our health service will get through the winter must deliver proper support to patients and frontline staff, otherwise frontline care will collapse in the coming months.”

Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said waits over a dozen hours used to be “an anomaly” but “under the SNP they’re a regular occurrence”.

He added: “Winter typically brings the worst pressures at A&E, yet we have been seeing crisis level waiting times for months already.

“The SNP Government’s mismanagement of the health service has left A&E trapped in a state of permanent crisis.

“We need to see the Scottish Government start taking serious action to support the staff facing these pressure cooker conditions.”

Health Secretary Neil Gray said: “I am pleased to see improved performance this week with a 12% decrease in the longest A&E waits – we are working closely with all boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand.

“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.

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

“We are working to shift the focus of care from acute to community and as part of this we will expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.”