SICKENING
Anger after the Government fail to hit their own A&E targets for one year
The Scottish Government have failed to meet their own A&E waiting time target for a year, official figures have revealed.
At least 95 per cent of patients should be treated within four hours of arriving at an emergency department.
But wor r ying NHS stat i st ics show the benchmark was last achieved in the week ending July 30, 2017.
Since then, the figure has fallen to as low as 77.8 per cent in January 2018, when a flu outbreak plunged many hospitals into crisis.
During the week ending July 15, 95 patients spent more than eight hours in A& E, with 17 spending more than 12 hours.
Scot t ish Lib Dems health spokesman Alex Cole - Hami lt on ha s demanded “overworked and underpaid” NHS staff are given more resources to help them meet the expected standard of care.
The MSP said: “Patients and staff have no reason to have confidence in a government who haven’t been able to meet their own targets for a year and who, despite near weekly warnings, haven’t been able to turn this situation around.
“The time for action is now. A year of stalling and failing has to prompt change.
“Staff are pressured, overworked and underpaid. The social care system is under strain and mental health services are horrendously deficient.
“All of this piles more pressure on A& E, either by increasing the number of referrals or by interrupting the flow of patients onwards to other services.
“The new health secretary must make an immediate move to sort it. The SNP have had more than a decade in charge and these A& E stats show their persistent mismanagement.
“The ask is simple – give the NHS and our social care sector the resources they need.”
Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour’s shadow cabinet secretary for health, said: “Labour have exposed the SNP government’s many failures across the NHS time and time again.
“The new hea l th secretary must be quickly realising just how big a job she has on her hands.
“But unless she gives the health service the cash boost it deserves and enough staff to cope with demand, these problems will only get worse.
“The SNP’s record on A& E waiting times is horrendous and, yet again, it is the patients who are suffering.”
SN PMSPJ ea ne Freeman replaced Shona Rob is on as health secretary as part of a Government re shuffle in June.
Robison had become embroiled in a number of scandals, including accounting failures at NHS Tayside.
Freeman said: “Significant numbers of additional patients have attended A&E over winter and summer this year.
“Despite this additional demand, latest f igures show that more than nine out of 10 patients across Scot land were seen, treated and admitted or discharged within four hours in the latest week.
“NHS staff numbers are at historically high levels and core A& Es have outperformed those in the rest of the UK for more than three years.
“While we can expect to see periods of fluctuation, hospitals continue to work hard to ensure sustained improvements. I’m taking an active interest in work already under way to improve waiting times.”