Call for waiting lists audit

Scottish Labour has called for an independent audit of what it described as Scotland’s “hidden hospital waiting lists”.

The length of time patients have to wait in so called “assessment units” – where patients can be sent by their GP – is “not transparently monitored”, according to the party.

It comes after an elderlymandied on a trolley at the Queen ElizabethUniversityHospital in Glasgow after waiting eight hours for treatment last week.

The Scottish Government said there are 27 acute assessment units acrossthecountry“which have evolved in different ways according to local circumstances– someoperate as inpatient wards, and some have a mix of trolleys and beds”.