Almost one third of patients in Scotland wait longer than four hours in A&E
The Scottish Government aims to have 95% of people dealt with in the target time
Almost one third of Scots who went to A&E waited at least four hours to be seen, new figures show.
Data from Public Health Scotland released on Tuesday showed 68.6% of attendances in the week up to February 5 were seen and subsequently admitted or discharged with four hours.
The Scottish Government aims to have 95% of people dealt with in the target time.
The figure was a slight drop from the previous week, when it sat at 70.3%, but remained above the lowest on record (55.1%) seen during the winter.
Of the 23,111 attendances in the week up to February 5, 1,052 waited more than 12 hours in A&E, a rise from 851 the previous week.
Some 2,174 people waited more than eight hours and 7,265 waited longer than four hours.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We are doing everything we can to help the health service through the remainder of the most challenging winter in its history.
“Our resilience committee is monitoring the situation in emergency departments extremely closely and we remain in regular contact with boards.
“We will continue to see fluctuations in figures over winter and I am grateful to all staff for their continued exceptional efforts in the face of sustained pressure.
“Delayed discharge continues to have a major impact on waits.
“As part of our nationwide approach, patients who no longer need to be in hospital are being urgently reassessed and those clinically safe to be discharged will be safely moved home or to an interim placement in a care home – freeing up beds for those most in need.
“We are providing £8 million to boards to buy 300 new care beds to increase capacity and alleviate delayed discharge pressures and will increase NHS 24 staffing to help cope with rises in demand.”
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “Even as we hopefully head past the peak of winter illnesses, almost a third of patients are still not being seen on time on his watch, which is alarming.
“The SNP health secretary is still miles off meeting his A&E target and his flimsy recovery plans have failed to remobilise frontline health services.
“It is suffering patients who are paying the price for his inaction as they have to wait longer and longer in A&E departments.”
He added: “Our A&E departments continue to be under an intolerable strain due to Humza Yousaf’s chronic mismanagement of our NHS.
“He should be sacked by Nicola Sturgeon immediately.”
Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “We may be through the worst of the winter in our A&E, but these dismal figures tell us that the crisis in our NHS is far from over.
“Thousands of patients each week are being forced to wait for hours on end to receive treatment in A&E. Staff and patient safety is still at risk, and delayed discharge is at breaking point.”
She added: “When nearly a third of patients are waiting too long at A&E, the SNP need to take serious action, sustain improvements, end delayed discharge and prioritise primary care so that illnesses can be treated before they reach A&E.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub