60% not seen in time at one casualty unit
SCOTLAND’S A&E departments have continued their record low performance.
At Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert, six in every 10 people were not seen within the target four-hour time slot.
Last night, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was told the Government were “dragging their heels” over the crisis.
Statistics published yesterday showed just 71.3 per cent of people across Scotland’s A&E departments were seen in time in the week ending October 10 – the same as the week before.
A total of 1871 people spent more than eight hours in emergency units, with 612 people waiting longer than 12 hours.
In NHS Forth Valley, just 41 per cent of patients were seen in time and there were nine hospitals throughout the country which recorded sub-70 per cent performances – among them Glasgow’s QEUH on 54.8 per cent and Royal Infirmary on 55.4. All three Lanarkshire hospitals were in the low to mid-60s and in Lothian the Royal Infirmary and St John’s were in the same bracket.
At Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, just 68.2 per cent were seen.
NHS Lanarkshire and Borders have enlisted the Army to help out in acute services and Grampian has applied for help. Greater Glasgow & Clyde is currently “exploring options regarding assistance from the Army”.
Last night, vice-president (Scotland) of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine John Thomson said: “The figures speak for themselves and equate to an exceptionally poor patient experience and also a very poor staff experience as well.
“It is utterly demoralising for staff. The main issue is that there just isn’t enough in-patient bed capacity to meet the current demand and that is a problem that existed pre-Covid but it is a problem that has been exacerbated by Covid because of the infection, prevention and control measures that have had to be put in place in patient areas to ensure patients have adequate space between their bed spaces.”
A spokeswoman from Forth Valley Health Board stated: “Staff are doing everything possible to reduce delays and we would like to take this opportunity to apologise to anyone who has experienced a longer wait to be seen at this very challenging time.”
Last night, opposition politicians criticised the Government.
Scottish Labour’s health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “We have been calling on the Government to act for months but instead they have dragged their heels and failed to support staff.
“Thousands of Scots are waiting several hours in pain for treatment. Things have to change now, or else we face a winter of chaos.”