Bad weather hits A&E waiting times

Published on Tuesday 24 February 2009 21:48

HOSPITALS failed to hit targets for maximum waiting times in accident and emergency departments towards the end of last year, figures revealed yesterday.

Nicola Sturgeon, the health secretary, blamed the bad weather for the fall.

A national target says 98 per cent of patients attending A&E departments should be treated, admitted or discharged within four hours. But in December the figure achieved was only 96.7 per cent. This compared with 97.7 per cent in November and 98.1 per cent in October.

This gave a quarterly figure of 97.5 per cent, slightly down on previous quarters.

Other figures showed most health boards were already meeting a tougher hospital waiting-time target yet to come into force. At present there is a maximum target of 18 weeks for seeing a consultant after a patient has been referred by their GP or dentist. This is to go down to 15 weeks by the end of March.