NHS Scotland: More than 1,600 Scots died needlessly last year due to A&E waiting times

Medics have urged the Scottish Government to recognise the 'dire situation' unfolding in Scotland’s hospitals

More than 1,600 Scots died needlessly last year due to pressure on NHS Scotland’s accident and emergency departments, new figures suggest, with top medics urging the Scottish Government to recognise the “dire situation” and fund more hospital beds.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures that in 2023, 117,741 patients waited over eight hours in Scotland’s A&E departments, despite a maximum of four hours being the standard set by the Scottish Government.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has calculated that there will be an excess death for every one in 72 patients who spend between eight and 12 hours in an emergency department.

Based on the numbers waiting more than eight hours in Scotland since the start of 2023, this would equate to an estimated up to 1,635 excess deaths.

In 2022, 142,000 people waited over eight hours in Scotland’s emergency departments, potentially resulting in almost 2,000 excess deaths according to the RCEM’s excess deaths methodology.

Dr Fiona Hunter, vice chair of RCEM Scotland, said long delays in A&E “are dangerous and associated with patient harm and patient deaths”.

The figures are “deeply distressing and deeply concerning”, said Dr Hunter.

“Staff do all they can to mitigate against these harms and ensure patients receive effective and quality care, but the current conditions remain extremely challenging,” she said.

“At the heart of this is a shortfall of beds mixed with insufficient social care. The beds we do have are occupied by patients who could be discharged, but are unable to be.

“Our hospitals are full, so we can’t admit patients from A&Es into beds – leading to long and harmful delays in overcrowded A&Es.

“It is a challenging situation, made more challenging by winter pressures and a rise in seasonal viruses. It is heart-breaking to see our patients – real people, old and young, with families and friends – suffer these long, uncomfortable and undignified waits.

“We urge the Scottish Government to recognise this dire situation and provide the NHS in Scotland with the beds and resources it needs to protect patients.”

Scottish Labour is now calling on the Scottish Government’s health secretary, Michael Matheson, “to act now to support staff and avoid further needless loss of life”.

The party’s health spokesperson, Dame Jackie Baillie, said the estimated 1,600 excess deaths “is the human cost of the SNP’s incompetent running of our NHS”.

“These are not mere numbers – these are vulnerable people in need who have been failed by this SNP government,” Dame Jackie said.

“Hardworking staff are being pushed to breaking point and they are receiving nothing but warm words from the SNP.

“Successive SNP health ministers – including Humza Yousaf – have completely failed to end the crisis in our A&E departments.

“We need action now to tackle delayed discharge, support primary care and to invest in our NHS workforce.”

Last month, a BMA Scotland organiser from Glasgow warned that patients are already being left waiting outside in ambulances – which doesn’t count towards Scottish Government A&E waiting times figures – and sick people are being dumped in corridors “with no real nursing or medical care” while they wait to be seen.

Dr Lailah Peel, an A&E medic working in the central belt, told The Scotsman that pressures in NHS Scotland’s emergency departments have left staff “wondering how much more they can take”, with the only “good days” coming when doctors feel they “are not running around thinking someone is going to die”.

Dr Peel also said that 24 hour waits are “no longer unusual” in Scotland’s A&E departments – a claim backed up by the recent revelation that 4,000 Scots waited more than 24 hours in A&E in the first six months of last year – with some managers even admitting “they hope people just don’t turn up”.