Drop in number of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E

The number of people waiting at A&E for more than 12 hours has dropped slightly on the previous week, according to latest figures.

Data from Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows 955 patients spent more than 12 hours in an accident and emergency department in the week ending April 3, down from 1,022 people the week before.

The Scottish Government aims to ensure 95% of people who attend A&E are seen and subsequently discharged or admitted to hospital within 12 hours.

In the week to April 3, 68% of 24,575 attendances at A&E services were seen and subsequently admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

This was down from 68.4% of attendances the previous week.

The figures showed that 2,483 patients spent more than eight hours in an A&E department, down from 2,627 patients the week before, while 7,867 waited more than four hours, down from 7,973.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “It’s totally unacceptable that almost a third of patients are having to wait four hours or more to be seen.

“The Health Secretary can’t continue to rely on his woefully-inadequate Covid Recovery Plan when this spiralling crisis is causing ever more lives to be needlessly lost despite the heroic efforts of overwhelmed NHS staff.

“The Royal College of Emergency Medicine could not have been clearer last week when they spelled out how dangerous and unsustainable the situation is.

“They, and the public, are crying out for an action plan from Humza Yousaf now – but his silence is deafening.”

Scottish Labour Health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said A&E is getting “stuck in a state of permanent crisis”.

She said: “We desperately need real leadership from the government, but the Health Secretary spends more time commenting on the crisis than fixing it.

“We need urgent action to end delayed discharge and increase the number of hospital beds.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “NHS patients and staff are in dire need of new hope. We urgently need new resources and a renewed focus from the Health Secretary.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The latest weekly figures show more than two-thirds of patients are being seen within the four-hour target in our A&E departments, despite the unprecedented impact of the pandemic on services and with record levels of patients in hospital with Covid.

“While we expect these pressures will continue to impact performance over the next couple of weeks, we are now seeing indications that Covid levels are starting to fall which will hopefully ease pressure on hospital services.

“The recent changes to the infection prevention and control guidance, which should allow boards to de-escalate some of the enhanced infection prevention and control measures safely, should also help ease pressures on hospitals and improve patient flows.

“We continue to work closely with our Health Board colleagues and their partners and are monitoring the situation closely.

“For many A&E will not be the right place for their healthcare need. People should consider whether their condition is an emergency, such as a stroke, heart attack or major trauma, before going to A&E.

“Scotland continues to have the best performing A&Es in the UK, outperforming those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for over six years.”