Criticism as A&E waiting targets not met

A quarter of patients in hospital accident and emergency departments were not treated in the target time, with almost 500 waiting 12 hours or more to be dealt with, the latest figures show.

Data for the week ending February 6 showed 74.4% of patients in A&E were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – down from 75.6% the previous week and well below the Scottish Government target of 95%.

Staff in A&E units dealt with 23,429 cases over the seven days – with 1,346 patients there for eight hours or more.

Meanwhile, a total of 498 patients spent more than 12 hours in an A&E.

The Scottish Government insisted there is a “marked improvement” compared to earlier this year.

But opposition politicians called the situation “wholly unacceptable”.

Tory health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Ghulane, hit out at Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, saying: “Week after week Humza Yousaf’s continued inaction is failing our NHS. These A&E waiting times are once again wholly unacceptable.

“Our frontline NHS staff are working flat out but they are being badly let down by the SNP Government who haven’t stepped up to support them.”

Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the latest weekly figures were a “stark reminder that the crisis engulfing our A&E is far from over”.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “A&E waits continue to show a marked improvement on the situation from the turn of the year.

“Almost three-quarters of patients were seen within the four-hour target and this is reflective of the improvements we are seeing in staff absence and the series of measures implemented to minimise pressures across A&E.”