‘Death-trap’ icy pavements lead to surge in A&E delays
‘Mismanaged our NHS’ ‘Figures are a disgrace’
fALLS on ‘death-trap’ pavements have fuelled plunging performance by A&E departments over the festive period.
In total, there were 29,054 attendances at A&E across Scotland during the week ending December 17 – the highest since weekly reporting began in 2015.
But only 81 per cent of patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
That falls far short of the Scottish Government’s 95 per cent target.
It is also down 9 per cent from the same period in 2016 – suggesting a year-on-year decline in the NHS’s ability to handle the surge of winter patients.
On December 20, the Mail told how A&E departments across Scotland were being inundated with injuries sustained in slips on ice-covered pavements which resembled ‘skating rinks’.
Health boards saw a spike in sprains and breaks after Arctic conditions pushed temperatures as low as -11C.
In Grampian, one of the worst-affected areas, icerelated fall injuries rose fivefold compared to the same time last year.
Glasgow, fife, Lothian, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, forth Valley, Highland, Ayrshire and Arran and Lanarkshire also confirmed increases.
Many angry residents blamed councils for failing to grit streets.
One wrote on Aberdeen City Council’s facebook page: ‘We cannot leave or enter the building without falling.
‘The whole car park is a sheet of ice and a friend has fallen with her baby and now on way to A&E. But it’s OK, someone will call me back next week. What kind of response is that?
‘Mothers are trapped at homes with babies.’
Health Secretary Shona Robison has admitted that A&E departments were dealing with significant extra demand over the Christmas period.
The statistics show that much of the increase came towards the end of the week.
Raigmore Hospital, in Inverness, and Aberdeen Royal Infirmary saw 48 per cent and 42 per cent increases respectively in attendances between December 14 and December 17, compared with the same days the previous week.
Meanwhile, Hairmyres Hospital, in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, reported receiving one week’s worth of icerelated cases in 24 hours.
The Scottish Ambulance Service also recorded a 40 per cent increase in calls to deal with trauma injuries during the week ending December 17. Over the weekend of December 16 and 17, it experienced a staggering 60 per cent surge in calls related to falls.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said figures for NHS Lothian, where only 69 per cent of patients were seen within four hours, were ‘especially concerning’.
He added: ‘Once again we are seeing waiting time figures get worse and worse.
‘It further proves the SNP have totally mismanaged our NHS, and the situation won’t improve until they start to seriously invest in primary care.’
Scottish Labour’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: ‘These figures are a disgrace and will cause real concern to patients and families across Scotland.
‘Our doctors and nurses do fantastic work but they have been left over-worked, undervalued and under-resourced by this SNP government.’
He added: ‘These figures are sadly not a one-off – this has been a regular occurrence this winter.
‘It is now clear Scotland is facing an A&E winter meltdown under the SNP.’
During a visit to Ninewells A&E in Dundee, Miss Robison thanked staff and said: ‘Despite record numbers of people attending Scotland’s A&E departments – up 3,200 or 12 per cent in just one week – A&E performance fell by a few percentage points.
‘We are not complacent and are doing everything possible to improve that.’
David Chung, vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: ‘We have seen exceptional numbers of patients in the week before Christmas, which will undoubtedly affect how we are able to work through the festive period as well.’
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