Michael Matheson has been accused of putting “lives in danger” by refusing to quit as Health Secretary, after the number of Scots waiting longer than the target time for treatment in accident and emergency reached the second highest on record in December.
Opposition parties heaped fresh pressure on the Health Secretary after figures showed in the final month of 2023 a total of 42,442 patients spent more than four hours in hospital emergency departments.
The Scottish Government has set a target of having 95% of all patients in A&E seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
But this was only achieved for 65.6% of patients in December last year.
The number of patients waiting four hours or more was the second highest on record – with only December 2022 higher, figures from Public Health Scotland showed.
Over December there were also 5,107 patients who spent eight hours or more in A&E – 12.5% of cases.
And more than one in 20 patients (5.3%) was in A&E for 12 hours or more, with 6,467 people spending more than half a day there.
Meanwhile, weekly figures covering the last full week of January showed 62.7% of patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within the four-hour target – this being an improvement from the 61.9% recorded the previous week, but below the 65.9% weekly average for 2023.
Of the 25,099 people who sought help at A&E, 15,741 were admitted, transferred or discharged within four hors.
However, 3,689 patients (14.7%) were in A&E for more than eight hours, with 1,768 patients (7%) there for at least half a day.
Mr Matheson said that A&E departments across the country were “continuing to deal with heightened winter pressure”.
But Scottish Conservative health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, claimed that “dangerous” A&E waiting times figures “continue to get worse under the SNP’s shameful mismanagement of our NHS”.
Dr Gulhane, a GP as well as an MSP, said that these “excessive waits are completely inexcusable” as he claimed NHS staff had been “deprived of the vital resources they need to ensure patients are seen as efficiently as possible, thanks to 16 years of dire workforce planning from the SNP”.
He added: “It is unacceptable that so many patients have been abandoned to these worsening delays in our emergency wards, which we know can lead to unnecessary loss of life.
“This is not a new issue. The SNP have not met their target waiting time since July 2020, yet still Michael Matheson refuses to tackle this growing problem.
“His refusal to quit has further put lives in danger, and he must urgently address this crisis before any more lives are put at risk.”
Labour health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie said: “The chaos in our overstretched A&Es has left thousands of patients stranded for hours on end and put lives at risk.”
She claimed Mr Matheson had been “distracted” by the recent scandal over the data roaming charges incurred by his sons after they used his Holyrood issued iPad while on a family holiday.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, said the Health Secretary had been “too distracted by trying to salvage his career to focus on the needs of staff and patients”.
Commenting on the figures, Mr Matheson said: “Emergency departments across the country are continuing to deal with heightened winter pressure, with similar demand being felt right throughout the rest of the UK.
“We recognise waiting times are longer than we want them to be for some patients and we continue to work closely with boards to support delivery of sustained improvements.
“Hospital bed occupancy is having a major factor on performance. Our delayed discharge and hospital occupancy action plan is being implemented at pace to help tackle this and deliver actions we know work to reduce delays.
“This includes early planning, deployment of multi-agency teams and involvement of the patient, their family and carers.”