Waiting times worsen as NHS faces another winter crisis
WAITING time performance at Scotland’s A&E wards has plummeted to its worst in months, sparking fears the NHS is facing another tough winter.
Only 92 per cent of patients were seen within four hours earlier this month, the worst figure since April.
The poorest waiting time figures were for the flagship Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, with only 79 per cent of patients seen within the four-hour A&E target.
The figures published by the Information and Statistics Division of the NHS for the week ending September 10 are the worst since April 30, when 91.5 per cent of patients were seen within four hours.
Last winter, pressure piled on the NHS in Scotland, leading to cancelled operations and long waiting times in A&E. Some patients were treated on trolleys in corridors, while others were diverted to different hospitals.
A separate report by ISD yesterday showed nearly half of patients needing appointments for care such as physiotherapy have to wait longer than a month. The revelations have led to fresh criticism of the Scottish Government’s NHS performance.
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesman Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘With winter looming, the NHS needs to be prepared and properly supported. SNP ministers must urgently tackle such persistent issues and ensure that our hardworking NHS staff have the resources they need to deliver for patients.
‘Patients will be fed up of warm words from SNP ministers. They need to explain in full to parliament why its performance against this target remains consistently poor, what they will now do differently and when this situation will be rectified.’
Scottish Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘The SNP is running out of excuses for its percent formance on A&E waiting times. We’re not in the grip of a winter crisis, yet still the SNP has managed to preside over a recruitment crisis which is leaving casualty departments short-staffed and over-stretched.’
The Scottish Government has also set a standard that 90 per of patients referred for an outpatient appointment for musculoskeletal services should have their first appointment within four weeks. These are for key treatments such as podiatry, occupational therapy, chiropody and physiotherapy.
But the ISD Scotland report shows only 54.8 per cent of patients were seen within the target four weeks for musculoskeletal issues over the past three months.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar said: ‘These figures show almost half of patients for key treatments having to wait more than four weeks to see a specialist.
‘It is particularly discouraging given that having to wait for treatments such as physiotherapy can set back recovery or make the conditions worse for patients.’
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s deputy medical director, Dr David Stewart said the board had completed a ‘comprehensive review of unscheduled care’ to drive forward improvements.
‘We have identified areas for improvement and are accelerating the process to implement the changes that will deliver results for our patients and allow us to meet our performance targets.’
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: ‘Scotland’s core accident and emergency departments have outperformed those in the rest of the UK for almost two and a half years. We monitor waiting times closely and we have put record investment and increased levels of staffing into hospitals.’
‘Short-staffed and over-stretched’