Patients are to be offered at-home care to help ease A&E waiting times

Patients seeking urgent and unplanned care will have the opportunity to get it at home as the Scottish Government seeks to reduce hospital A&E waiting times.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf announced a package of more than £50 million that will be shared between health boards this year in an effort to reshape unscheduled care services.

The Urgent and Unscheduled Care Collaborative will see health boards adopt the new improvement programme which will include offering patients alternatives to hospitalbased care.

Patients seeking emergency care will also be offered scheduled urgent appointments to avoid long waiting times in A&E, the Scottish Government has said.

The programme will also determine how the discharge process can be simplified to attempt to cut down on delayed discharges from hospitals.

It comes as the latest weekly data shows that almost 30% of A&E patients waited longer than four hours for treatment.

Mr Yousaf said: “Our twin approach of investment and reform in urgent and unscheduled care will help our boards see people who need urgent attention quicker.

“For many, A&E may not be the best place for their healthcare needs and our £50 million improvement programme will offer patients alternative routes to urgent care.

“Last year, 4,500 patients received care from a Hospital at Home service – without this these patients would have experienced an acute hospital stay, we are determined to build on this success.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “For nearly a year, Humza Yousaf has walked by on the other side of the road as Scots languished for hours in A&E with some losing their lives as a result.

“Currently, this looks like another SNP sticking plaster that will do nothing to tackle fundamental issues like delayed discharge and a lack of beds.”

“This looks like another SNP sticking plaster