Ministers under fire over A&E wait times despite slight improvement

The Scottish Government has again come under fire over accident and emergency waiting times – despite official figures showing some improvement.

The latest statistics show that in the week ending December 14, 63.5% of patients in A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time of four hours.

That is an improvement from the previous week, when 59% were dealt with inside four hours – but it is still well below the Scottish Government target of 95%.

With resident doctors in Scotland having voted for strike action in a dispute over pay with the Government, the Conservatives claim such action could be “potentially catastrophic for patients”.

Concerns were raised after the latest weekly figures from Public Health Scotland showed that of the 26,521 people who went to A&E for help in the week ending December 14, 9,678 patients were there for more than four hours.

This included 3,706 patients who were there for eight hours or more – 14% of patients, while 1,834 patients (6.9%) waited at least half a day.

Health Secretary Neil Gray said with A&E departments coming under “sustained pressure”, wait times performance “remains below the levels we all wish to see”.

Conservative public health spokesman Brian Whittle said: “These appalling figures highlight that Scotland’s emergency wards are at breaking point following years of SNP mismanagement.

“Dire workforce planning by a series of nationalist health secretaries means that Scotland’s A&E departments simply can’t cope with the huge demand and, as a result, lives are being needlessly lost because of the intolerable waits so many patients face.”

With First Minister John Swinney having urged people to only go to A&E if they have a “genuine emergency” over the festive period, the Tory MSP said the SNP leader had “been reduced this week to pleading with patients not to go to A&E unless it’s absolutely essential”.

Mr Whittle added: “Amid this permanent crisis in emergency departments, a doctors’ strike at the height of winter would be irresponsible and potentially catastrophic for patients.

“The SNP Government and the BMA must work together to ensure these planned strikes are cancelled.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Dame Jackie Baillie said: “It is shameful that thousands of Scots are still facing long waits in A&E, despite Health Secretary Neil Gray promising to get on top of the issue.

“It is quite clear that the SNP Government has no real plan and no ideas about how to address the problems in our NHS to restore it to the level the public need and deserve.

“Staff are increasingly feeling burnt out, and patients are suffering in agony because they are being faced with hours-long waits to get help in A&E departments.”

Mr Gray said: “We recognise that A&E departments are facing sustained pressure and performance remains below the levels we all wish to see.

“We want to drive improvements and are working closely with health boards to ensure they have the support in place to cope with peaks in demand.

“We are investing £220 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges. This investment is supporting the development of front door frailty services in every health board in Scotland and expanding Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026.

“These measures will help us shift the focus of care from acute to community.”