A&E stats shocker
Hairmyres misses its target
Patients at Hairmyres Hospital’s accident and emergency department waited the longest in Scotland.
Latest figures published by the NHS show that just 69.8 per cent of patients were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours at Hairmyres for the week ending October 20, while 91 patients had to wait over eight hours and 35 over 12 – the worst performing in the country.
And Hairmyres has been the worst performing of NHS Lanarkshire’s A&ES for three weeks in a row.
The Scottish Government’s own waiting time target is 95 per cent within four hours.
Hairmyres also performed significantly worse than NHS Lanarkshire’s two other A&E sites for the same week – although they also both missed the government target.
In Monklands in Airdrie, 86.6 per cent were seen within four hours while 19 patients waited over eight hours and seven over 12.
And in Wishaw General, 86.8 were seen with four hours and 39 patients waited over eight hours and 14 over 12.
Latest figures for Hairmyres were down on the previous week, ending October 13, when 74.5 percent were seen with four hours.
Worryingly, 94 patients waited over eight hours and 29 over 12.
And the week ending October 6, 76.1 per cent of patients were seen within four hours at Hairmyres and 35 patients waited over eight hours.
The Auditor General’s Annual Review of the NHS in Scotland for 2018/19 showed that NHS
Lanarkshire missed three out of four key targets – 18 weeks’ referral to treatment time, A&E patients seen within four hours and CAMHS patients (child and adolescent mental health services) seen within 18 weeks.
It did, however, meet its target for patients starting cancer treatment within 31 days of a decision at 98.6 per cent – the target is 95 per cent.
The auditor’s report also revealed that in 2018/19 NHS Lanarkshire made of £28.8m – the second largest saving in the country behind Ayrshire and Arran.
Russell Coulthard, director of hospital services at University Hospital Hairmyres, said: “Like many hospitals in Scotland, we have experienced unseasonable demand in our emergency department, affecting the number of patients admitted or discharged within the four-hour access standard.
“Other factors, such as the severity of a patient’s injury or illness, will also have an impact. We are sorry that some patients have experienced a longer wait as a result.
“We’d advise anyone who is feeling unwell to visit the NHS Inform website for advice on self-care in the first instance, and the NHS24 111 phone service can provide urgent health advice out of hours.”
In relation to the 18-week referral time Heather Knox, NHS Lanarkshire director of acute services, said “overall performance” with regard to targets for planned care was good and said that sustained increases in demand together with a rise in delayed discharges led to pressures in A&E across the health board.