Almost half a million Scots endure long waits at A&E

ALMOST half a million patients have experienced delays in Scotland’s emergency departments in the past two years.

A drop in the number of people presenting at A&E during the earlier months of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a reduction in waiting times.

But the 95 per cent target has been missed since then, with figures released last week revealing only 67.3 per cent of patients were attended to within four hours in the week ending June 26.

Analysis of waiting times data by the Scottish Conservatives shows 489,893 patients have had to wait more than four hours to be seen, treated and discharged since July 2020.

That was the last time the Scottish Government’s waiting time target for 95 per cent of patients attending A&E to be admitted, discharged or treated within four hours was met.

The Scottish Conservatives said that of the half a million patients, 101,647 waited more than eight hours, and 31,936 faced a wait of more than 12 hours.

The party said the figures are a ‘devastating illustration’ of how both patients and healthcare staff have ‘suffered’ from what it called a ‘mismanagement of Scotland’s NHS’.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Craig Hoy said: ‘These shocking figures lay bare just how badly patients and dedicated NHS staff have been let down by the SNP over the past two years.

‘It’s appalling that half a million people – almost one in ten of the Scottish population – have had to wait over four hours to be seen.

‘To wait more than half a day in a so-called emergency ward ought to be unthinkable – and yet that’s been the fate of virtually 32,000 people.

‘This is not about mere inconvenience; it’s a matter of life and death, because we know that excess delays lead to needless loss of life.’

Mr Hoy suggested frontline NHS staff have been ‘made to carry the can for mismanagement’ by the Scottish Government, and said that while the pandemic worsened the crisis, it had stemmed from ‘dreadful workforce planning over a long period’ at Holyrood.

He added the Government’s Covid Recovery Plan ‘simply isn’t fit for purpose’, and said the milestone of two years ‘must be the catalyst’ for Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to ‘get a grip of this huge crisis’.

The Scottish Government has recently announced that patients who need non-life-threatening emergency treatment will be given appointments at A&E, instead of just turning up.

Patients will be encouraged to phone NHS 111 with urgent conditions such as suspected broken bones, minor head injuries or a sudden deterioration of a chronic condition. While it is not expected that patients turning up at A&E would be sent away, by phoning first they could avoid long waits in hospitals and even be referred direct to specialists rather than being seen in A&E and then referred.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The number of Covid inpatients is rising, which is resulting in reduced capacity in our hospitals and staff absences, and having a detrimental impact on delays in A&E.’

‘Staff let down by the SNP’