Weather hits A&E performance

Severe weather has continued to affect the performance of Scotland’s accident-andemergency (A&E) departments against a key waitingtime target, health secretary Shona Robison has said.

More than 26,000 people attended A&E departments in the week ending March 11, with 83.5 per cent seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.

The figure is below the Scot- tish Government’s target for 95 per cent to be dealt with in that time.

Performance was down on the previous week, when 88.5 per cent of A&E patients were seen within four hours as the so-called Beast from the East hit the country.

Ms Robison said that as weather conditions improved, attendances at A&E increased in the week ending 11 March, up from almost 22,000 the previous week, but at a time when hospitals were still trying to recover and discharge those patients unable to go home due to the weather. She said: “Despite these challenges, NHS staff worked hard to improve the flow of patients through our hospitals. We continue to work with health boards and monitor waiting times closely. However, we can expect to see weekly fluctuation continue as our services work to return to normal following the disruption.”

Scottish Labour pointed out the target had not been met on a national basis since July last year.