Scotland A&E figures: More than a third of patients waited over four hours in A&E – figures

NHS services are still coming under “significant pressure”, the Health Secretary said, as the latest figures showed more than a third of patients in accident and emergency are having to wait longer than the target time for help.

Michael Matheson spoke about the “sustained pressure” health care services are facing as official data showed that of the 25,294 people who attended A&E in the week ending April 2, less than two thirds (63%) were dealt with within four hours – down slightly from 63.3% the previous week.

The slight fall in the proportion of patients treated within the target time comes despite a decrease in the overall number of people attending for emergency care.

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The Scottish Government has set the target of having 95% of patients in A&E seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or dicharged within fours hours.

NHS services are still coming under “significant pressure”, the Health Secretary said, as the latest figures showed more than a third of patients in accident and emergency are having to wait longer than the target time for help.NHS services are still coming under “significant pressure”, the Health Secretary said, as the latest figures showed more than a third of patients in accident and emergency are having to wait longer than the target time for help.
NHS services are still coming under “significant pressure”, the Health Secretary said, as the latest figures showed more than a third of patients in accident and emergency are having to wait longer than the target time for help.

But Public Health Scotland figures showed that at Glasgow’s flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital just two fifths (40.6%) of patients in A&E were dealt with in that time.

There were also a number of hospitals where more than half of A&E patients waited longer than four hours, with both Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert dealing with 44.2% of patients in the target time, compared to to 44.8% at Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

Across Scotland there were 9,371 people for whom the four-hour target time was missed in the week ending April 2.

This includes 3,333 patients who spend more than eight hours in A&E and 1,326 people who were there for 12 hours or more.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: “These appalling figures are a graphic illustration of the scale of the task new Health Secretary Michael Matheson faces in trying to turn around Scotland’s NHS following the disastrous stewardship of his predecessor, Humza Yousaf.”

The Tory added: “It’s unacceptable that, with the winter peak long gone, well over a third of patients are having to wait more than four hours to be seen – and that proportion is rising.”

He said that delays in A&E would “inevitably, and tragically, lead to avoidable deaths”.

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Dr Gulhane hit out at First Minister Humza Yousaf – who was health secretary until he succeeded Nicola Sturgeon.

The Conservative MSP said the NHS had suffered “years of woeful workforce planning” under the SNP and added: “It’s an admission by the First Minister of his own failure as health secretary that he’s had to add ‘NHS recovery’ to his successor’s job description.”

Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine said: “Michael Matheson may have replaced Humza Yousaf as Health Secretary but it seems like agonisingly long waits for patients are now the SNP’s new normal.”

The Lib Dem MP added: “We need to see urgent action from Michael Matheson to avoid the crisis in our A&E departments becoming more acute than ever.”

Mr Matheson, who took over as Health Secretary when Mr Yousaf appointed his Cabinet team, stressed: “We are doing all we can to support health boards cope with the significant pressure that remains on services right across the health and social care system.

“I are grateful to all health and social care staff for their outstanding effort in the face of this sustained pressure.”

He added: “Hospital bed occupancy continues to be a major factor impacting performance.

“We are increasing NHS 24 staffing and providing up to £8 million to boards to help alleviate pressure from delayed discharge.

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“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.”

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