A&E unit defended by boss despite delays

The chairman of NHS Shetland has defended the record of the Gilbert Bain Hospital A&E unit following an attack on waiting times by Scotland’s shadow health minister.

Gary Robinson said that the 278 people who spent more than four hours waiting to be dealt with in the department were a very small percentage of patients who attended in 2018.

Robinson was responding to a claim from Highlands and Islands regional MSP David Stewart that patients and staff in Shetland “deserve better than this”.

According to the NHS’s

“We do have to hold a patient while they wait for a transfer”

own figures, the numbers of patients waiting more than four hours to be either admitted or sent home rose 16% from 2017 compared with a rise throughout Scotland of 35% in the same period.

Shadow health minister David Stewart said: “Patients and staff in NHS Shetland deserve better than this.

“Increasing numbers of people waiting too long at A&E reveals unacceptable pressure in other parts of our health service such as in social care and primary care.”

However, Mr Robinson responded saying: “We are extremely proud of the excellent work done by our A&E team.”

“In Shetland, because of our remote location, we do sometimes have to hold a patient longer than normal in A&E while they wait for transfer to a hospital on the mainland. This too impacts on the waiting time figures.”

Figures revealed the number of patients waiting over eight hours had risen 167% between 2017 and 2018, but only amounted to affect eight people.