Doctors: NHS emergency plan will not halt winter crisis

An emergency action plan to reduce bed blocking and ease record A&E waiting times will not take affect in time to ease the looming crisis this winter, doctors warn.

The warning came as figures revealed waiting times in the country’s A&E departments reached a record high earlier this month.

Dr John Thomson, vicechair of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland (RCEM), welcomed measures in the winter resilience plan, including a focus on social care and a commitment to recruit staff, but said: “While these are welcome, they will not be in place in time to prevent further harm to patients and staff this winter.”

Latest NHS figures showed 3,553 people waited more than eight hours to be assessed, treated and discharged from emergency departments in the week up to October 9 – the highest on record. The number who waited 12 hours at A&E stood at 1,506, a reduction of only four in a week.

Thomson said: “These long waiting times are symptomatic of exit block in the hospital when patients ready to be discharged are unable to be due to lack of social care support. We urge the Scottish Government to focus efforts on bolstering the social care workforce to help with the discharge of patients from hospital and with the provision of care in the community.”

He repeated the RCEM’s call for 1,000 more beds in Scottish hospitals before winter sets in and called for a renewed focus on retaining existing staff.

Professor Richard Simpson, of St Andrews University, a former Labour MSP and retired GP, said: “There has been a failure to tackle delayed discharges promised in 2015. Added to that is the catastrophe of the GP out of hours service. Health boards cannot staff these because GPs are overworked with practice commitments. If people become ill at night, there is not room for them in out of hours and they are directed to A&E.”

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, who faces growing criticism, said: “A&E departments are working under significant pressure and the pandemic continues to impact performance. Recovery from Covid will not happen overnight, which is why we continue to work with boards to reduce pressure this winter. Pressures experienced by A&E are driven by delays in discharge elsewhere in hospitals. That’s why a focus of our winter plan is on social care and actions to encourage integration authorities to help alleviate delays.”