A&E waiting times hit new high for second week in row

Scotland has recorded its worst A&E performance figures since records began, with almost a quarter of patients waiting more than four hours to be seen.

Only 76% of the 25,461 patients attending accident and emergency departments during the second week of August were admitted, transferred or discharged within the target time.

A total of 6,113 A&E patients were left waiting for more than four hours, according to the latest NHS Scotland statistics.

Of those, 1,050 waited longer than eight hours and 239 patients were left for more than 12 hours.

It is the second week in a row that compliance with the four-hour target has dropped to a record low, following the previous week’s figure of 76.5%.

The Scottish Government’s target is for 95% of patients to wait no longer than four hours, although this has not been met since July 2020.

NHS Forth Valley was once again the worstperforming health board, with 65.6% of the 1,167 patients seen within four hours – down from 74.7% the previous week.

It was followed by NHS Lanarkshire, which saw 67.8% of the 3,977 patients in the target time (down from 67.5% in the week ending August 8).

Shetland’s health board was alone in hitting the 95% target, achieving 95.7% of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

Responding to the figures, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Our NHS staff have faced unprecedented pressures over recent weeks. They work tirelessly and consistently to respond to the pandemic whilst continuing to provide vital treatment.

“Hospitals are reporting increased levels of people attending A&E who are much sicker and require higher levels of care.

“Weekly performance is impacted due to a range of challenges including high attendances, staffing pressures due to isolation and annual leave, and the continued requirement for infection-control precautions that is affecting the time people need to spend in A&E.

“To minimise pressures, in June we committed £12 million in additional funding to health boards across Scotland to support non-Covid emergency care.

“The boards are in the process of recruiting additional staff with this funding and we expect to see an impact of our rapid action in the coming months.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader and health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “A&E services are in crisis and the health secretary is still missing in action.

“For months now, frontline NHS workers have been raising the alarm and the health secretary has simply failed to heed their calls. This A&E crisis is leading to thousands of Scots being denied the speedy and vital healthcare that they need.”

Asked about the situation facing A&E departments during yesterday’s coronavirus briefing, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted A&E staff had “absolutely not been abandoned”.

She confirmed the government would publish an NHS recovery plan today and said: “The situation in our NHS is incredibly difficult.”

The emergency department at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee. Picture by Kim Cessford.