A&E mess has to be top of list

SCOTLAND’S new first minister is being urged to make tackling long waits in A&E a priority – as figures showed more than a third of patients waited longer than the the target time in the first full week in March.

The latest data from Public Health Scotland shows only 64.7 per cent of patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours in the week ending March 12.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton made a plea to the three candidates running to replace Nicola Sturgeon.

He said: “It is clear the ongoing crisis in Scotland’s NHS will have to be at the top of the new first minister’s in-tray.”

A&E departments dealt with 24,523 cases in the week ending March 12.

The latest data showed that 8656 patients waited in A&E for more than four hours – up from 7429 the previous week.

There were also 2585 people who spent eight hours or more in A&E, including 1030 who were there for a minimum of 12 hours.

This is well below the Scottish Government ambition of having 95 per cent of cases in A&E dealt with within four hours.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, who hopes to become first minister, stressed there would be fluctuations in the weekly data.

He said: “We are doing everything we can to support the health service through the remainder of the most challenging winter in its history.”

But Cole-Hamilton complained: “Patients wait for hours on end week after week, all the while the candidates to be our new first minister squabble over independence plans.”

Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, branded the figures as being a “damning indictment on Humza Yousaf”, insisting that the current Health Secretary is “more focused on his leadership ambitions than his day job”.