A&E waiting times at new hospital closer to hitting target

WAITING times at Scotland’s new flagship hospital have improved dramatically although they remain just short of a government target.

The latest figures show 94 per cent of patients at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s accident and emergency department were treated within four hours during the week ending July 5.

It was up from 88.6 per cent and 89.6 per cent in the two preceding weeks. The national performance target is 95 per cent.

A total of 1,664 patients sought treatment at the new Glasgow hospital’s A&E in the seven days to July 5. Some 100 people waited more than four hours before being treated, admitted or discharged, including one who waited more than eight hours.

The £842 million Queen Elizabeth University Hospital has encountered a number of problems, including the relocation of the bone marrow transplant unit amid concerns over poor air qual- ity. The government earlier sent in a team of expert troubleshooters to improve waiting times in the new hospital.

Overall, Scotland-wide waiting time figures show 94.6 per cent of people were treated within four hours at A&E sites.

The performance is down slightly from 94.7 per cent the previous week but does show an improvement of almost nine percentage points since weekly reporting began in February.

Public Health Minister Maureen Watt said: “As we have seen in recent weeks, A&E performance is stabilising, with weekly figures getting closer to meeting our world leading targets.

“Today’s figures show that 13 out of 14 health boards treated nine out of 10 patients within four hours during the week ending July 5. Long waits have also continued to remain low.

“Of course, there is still much work to do and it’s important that with support from the Scottish Government, health boards retain momentum throughout the summer to ensure they are in the best position heading into winter.”

Hospitals dealt with 25,514 cases at A&E departments over the week, up from 24,785 in the week ending June 28.

According to the figures, 114 (0.4 per cent) of patients waited more than eight hours before they were admitted and treated and then transferred or discharged.