Half of hospitals fail to meet A&E waiting time target

Half of Scotland's hospitals have failed to meet the Scottish Government's interim waiting times target for accident and emergency patients, new weekly performance figures have revealed.

Half of hospitals aren't meeting their target wait time Picture: John Devlin

Official health service data shows 92.4 per cent of all patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours - below the Scottish Government’s interim target of 95 per cent but a slight improvement on the previous week’s performance of 92 per cent.

A total of 26,762 patients attended A&E departments across the country in the week ending April 3.

Fifteen of the 30 hospitals where performance is monitored failed to meet the 95 per cent interim target, with two hospitals failing to treat almost a fifth of patients within four hours.

At Glasgow Royal Infirmary, 81.5 per cent of A&E cases were dealt with in this time, while medical staff at Ayr Hospital treated 81.6 per cent within four hours.

Across NHS Ayrshire and Arran, 86.6 per cent of patients in A&E were seen within four hours, the lowest proportion recorded by the 14 regional health boards in the week ending April 3. In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 89 per cent were seen within the target time.

Scotsman Food & Drink: ideas, inspiration and guides