Patient had to wait 19 hours, 44 minutes in casualty

PATIENTS are waiting up to 20 hours for treatment at accident and emergency departments in Scotland as staff struggle to tackle long queues, figures revealed yesterday.

A patient at Wishaw General Hospital - which is in the constituency of Jack McConnell, the First Minister - was in A&E for 19 hours 44 minutes, the longest wait at any Scottish hospital.

The figures were obtained by the SNP, which asked to see the longest waits faced by patients during a survey in 2005. It was carried out over three days, and measured the waits from arrival in A&E to discharge, admission or transfer.

While the average wait across Scotland was 104 minutes, many patients had to endure much longer delays.

At Hairmyres Hospital, in the East Kilbride constituency of Andy Kerr, the health minister, the longest wait was more than nine hours. Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow kept a patient waiting for 11 hours, while Monklands Hospital in Airdrie had a maximum wait of 15 hours 23 minutes.

Of the major teaching hospitals, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary had the longest maximum wait at 14 hours 10 minutes.

Fiona Hyslop, of the SNP, said: "These A&E figures are particularly embarrassing for the First Minister and the health minister, Andy Kerr. This is a record of failure for which both men are directly responsible."

The Executive said the results showed that nearly nine out of ten patients who attended A&E were dealt with within the four-hour target, which comes into effect at the end of 2007.

A spokesman said: "As an initial 'snapshot', this provides the information needed to drive forward future delivery of the 2007 commitment. While performance is generally encouraging, there are clear areas needing concerted action."

NHS Lothian, which runs Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, said: "These figures are a year old and do not reflect the progress that is being made in our efforts to bring waiting times down."

John Browning, the medical director of NHS Lanarkshire, which runs Wishaw, Hairmyres and Monklands hospitals, said they were working to improve waiting times. "Currently, there are situations where patients have very complex needs, which can result in a lengthy trolley wait within A&E," he said.