One in three waited longer than four hours at A&E, figures show

A third of people attending Scotland’s emergency departments earlier this month waited longer than four hours to be seen, new figures have shown.

Public Health Scotland statistics released on Tuesday show 66.2% of people were seen within four hours in the week up to September 10.

The figure dropped from 68.7% the previous week.

A Scottish Government target aims to ensure 95% of people are seen within that time, a figure which has not been hit since the early days of the pandemic.

During that week, the number of people waiting more than 12 hours at A&E increased from 768 the previous week to 1,065 – up from 2.8% to 3.8% of the total number of attendances.

The number of people waiting longer than eight hours also increased, from 2,318 to 2,885 – a jump from 8.6% to 10.3%.

The number of attendances at A&E rose by more than 1,000 in that week, from 27,016 to 28,117.

Health Secretary Michael Matheson said: “The Scottish Government is determined to see sustained improvement in emergency department performance.

“Monthly figures show an improving picture with reductions in long waits continuing for four consecutive months.

“However, we know that weekly performance is still not where we would like it to be, and there continues to be a persistent disparity in performance both between health boards and individual sites.

“We are tackling this by working closely with the health boards facing the greatest challenges in A&E performance, to improve services for patients and staff and try to drive down waiting times.”

Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane claimed the figures were “appalling” and “should be a wake-up call for the Health Secretary”.

He said: “On Michael Matheson’s watch over a third of patients are languishing for over four hours in an A&E department as a result of the SNP’s failure to get on top of the crisis in Scotland’s NHS.

“Despite the best efforts of my dedicated colleagues on the front line, we know these excessive delays lead to tragic and unnecessary deaths.

“Michael Matheson is repeating the mistakes of Humza Yousaf in being missing in action while our A&E departments buckle under the strain.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The facts are clear – despite months now in the job, A&E continues to be in disarray under Michael Matheson.

“NHS staff are working tirelessly but they are being failed by the uninterested Health Secretary.

“Let me be clear – these are not mere numbers, they are our fellow citizens and they are being put in danger due to SNP incompetence.”