Performance against key waiting times targets in Scotland’s accident and emergency departments has worsened again, the latest weekly figures have revealed.
Public Health Scotland data showed in the week ending February 11 that only 62.8% of patients in A&E were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.
That is down from 63.4% the previous week, and continues to be significantly below the Scottish Government’s target of having 95% of patients in A&E dealt with within four hours.
Of the 25,347 patients who attended emergency departments during the week ending February 11, a total of 9,434 waited longer than four hours to be either admitted, transferred or discharged.
That includes 3,431 patients who were there for more than eight hours, and 1,659 who spent 12 hours or more in A&E – with these totals representing 13.5% and 6.5% of patients respectively.
In four hospitals, fewer than half of patients were dealt with within the four-hour target time, the figures showed.
At Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, 42.1% of patients in A&E were either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours; the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (45.8%), Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (47.2%) and University Hospital Hairmyres (48.9%) in East Kilbride also failed to treat half of patients in the target time.
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said the data showed how “interminable waits” in A&E have “effectively become the norm”.
Hitting out at the Scottish Government, he said: “From Humza Yousaf to Michael Matheson, Scotland’s NHS has only known failure.
“This must now be the moment when the SNP decide to tackle this crisis in our A&E departments.”
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said “it is now the shocking norm” for more than a third of patients to wait more than four hours to be treated.
“Successive SNP health secretaries, including Humza Yousaf, have left A&E departments dangerously understaffed and beyond breaking point with their dire workforce planning,” he said.
“The latest SNP health secretary – Neil Gray – must urgently get a grip of this crisis to stop almost 1,700 patients waiting over half a day to be seen at A&E.”
Scottish Labour health spokesperson Dame Jackie Baillie said A&E is “stuck in a state of constant crisis”.
She said: “Staff are working tirelessly to keep services going and keep patients safe but they are being badly let down.
“Neil Gray must act to end the chaos in these over-stretched services so patients and staff do not have to pay the price for the SNP’s incompetence.”
Mr Gray said: “We recognise waiting times are longer than we want them to be for some patients as emergency departments across the UK continue to deal with high demand due to sustained levels of seasonal illnesses.
“Despite this, it is encouraging that there are signs of stabilisation across the system and we continue to work closely with boards to support the 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 deliver actions we know work to reduce delays.
“This includes early planning, deployment of multi-agency teams and involvement of the patient and their families and carers.”