Waiting times in A&E ‘truly shocking’

New statistics from Public Health Scotland have shown that only 53.1 per cent of A&E patients were seen in under four hours by NHS Lanarkshire in the week ending June 5.

A total of 86.5 per cent were seen in under eight hours. These are both the worst rates of any health board in Scotland.

In just one week, 1907 patients waited more than four hours, 511 waited more than eight hours and 134 people waited longer than 12 hours to be seen.

The best-performing hospital in the area was University Hospital Monklands, which saw 66.9 per cent of patients attended to within four hours.

However, this is still below the national average of 69.6 per cent.

University Hospital Hairmyres saw just 43.3 per cent of patients within four hours; and 49 per cent of patients were seen within four hours at University Hospital Wishaw.

Scottish Labour MSP for Central Scotland, Mark Griffin, has slammed the Scottish Government over the latest figures.

He said:“these are truly shocking figures that should act as a wake-up call to the health secretary and Scottish Government.

“As this crisis has deepened, the health secretary has been missing in action whilst the First Minister has been distracted by trips to America and interviews about referendums. They need to get a grip, and fast.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said:“we know the situation may fluctuate as hospitals manage pandemic-related challenges and backlogs, but we expect the pressure in A&E to ease as Covid cases continue to decrease.

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